Tree surgery and fencing in Heathfield.

Heathfield is an inland Wealden town, sat slightly lower than Crowborough but with the same broad geology: sandy and clay-mix soil, well-drained on the higher ground, more moisture-holding in the valleys. The wind is inland, not salt-laden, and the work behaves accordingly. The species mix is classic Weald: mature English oak and beech in the older garden plots, silver birch and Scots pine on the higher and sandier ground, hornbeam on the field margins, and ash that's gone or going across the lot thanks to dieback. The villages out to Punnetts Town, Three Cups Corner, Vines Cross and Warbleton are heavily rural and equestrian, which means a lot of the fencing work round here is post-and-rail and stock fencing on smallholding boundaries.

Heathfield falls under Wealden District Council, the same authority as Crowborough and Mayfield. Different planning portal from Rother, different Section 211 contact from Hastings Borough or Ashford Borough. We know the council, we know the planning map, and we know which pockets of Old Heathfield and Cade Street fall inside the conservation area. That's the reason the second visit is usually a quicker conversation.

Heathfield has conservation areas covering Old Heathfield, Cade Street and pockets of the older parts of town. If a tree inside the conservation area is over 75mm in diameter at 1.5 metres off the ground, you generally need to file a Section 211 notice with Wealden District Council before any work starts. The council has six weeks to respond. We file the notice for you, with the method, the species and the reason, and we wait the clock out before we put a saw in.

A Tree Preservation Order is a separate process and it's common round Heathfield, partly because the older Wealden gardens carry orders on the veteran oaks and beeches. A TPO'd tree needs a formal application to Wealden, regardless of the diameter or whether the tree sits inside the conservation area. We handle that paperwork too. Wealden's portal is the same one we use for Crowborough and Mayfield, so we know what they want and how to phrase it. Most of the time the answer comes back as a consent with conditions, and we work to those conditions on the day. If you're not sure whether your tree is TPO'd or sitting in a conservation area, send us the address and we'll check Wealden's planning map before we quote.