Whilst TPOs are a legal requirement they may not always be digitised accurately. Users of this data should not assume this data is totally accurate and should consult the specific local authority for more detail before making any decisions
A TPO is made by the Local Authority, under Section 160 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, and within the procedures set out in the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation Order and Trees in Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Regulations 1975-1984. They are made to protect individual trees, groups of trees or woodlands which have particular amenity value, make a significant contribution to the landscape or townscape or because there may be a potential threat to the trees. Deciding which trees qualify to become protected the local authority must ensure that the trees contribute to the amenity and attractiveness of an area and be under threat in some way. Either individual specimens or groups can be protected in a single Order. There are no guidelines on which species of tree can be included in an Order.
The process starts with a Provisional Order, this is served on the owner of the land and comes into effect immediately. Once confirmed, the TPO will remain indefinitely and are recorded in the Land Register of Scotland. They then become legal burdens on the land occupied by present and future owners so that when the land is sold on, the title passes on with the TPO.
Some local authorities capture polygons of tree preservation areas. Others will identify actual trees as point TPOs. Several LAs capture both. We have initially created two separate layers - point and polygon, to represent TPOs. This may show duplication where a point falls within a polygon. We may adapt this rationale and methodology in due course as we know that there is discrepancy with Registers of Scotland's TPO data.