The felling by a local highway authority of trees in the highway, including its pavements and verges, is not “development” under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. It does not require planning permission, or an environmental impact assessment, or consultation.  On the contrary, when such a tree is a source of danger or obstruction or needs to be moved in order to facilitate highway repairs, the authority is under a statutory obligation to remove the tree pursuant to its Highways Act 1980 duty to repair and maintain the highway.  So held in R (Dillner) v Sheffield City Council (2016) EWHC 945 (Admin).

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