trees
Crown reduction, thinning and pollarding
£250 to £400 reduces the crown of a tree up to seven metres, rising to £960 to £1,150 above eighteen metres. Published UK averages land near £650 for a full reduction. Thinning runs £400 to £1,400 and pollarding £450 to £1,200 by size.
What this covers
What it costs. Crown work is priced by tree size and crew time rather than by the branch. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Reducing a crown within its natural shape
- Thinning to let light through without changing the outline
- Crown lifting to clear a path, a drive or a roof
- Pollarding on species that tolerate it
- Pruning to British Standard 3998
Worth knowing
A tree in a conservation area with no order on it still needs six weeks' written notice to the council before work. Trees under 75mm in diameter measured at 1.5m are exempt, or 100mm where the work is thinning to help others grow.
Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 211; SI 2012/605 regulation 15
What is involved
Three operations get confused with one another and they are not the same job. Crown reduction shortens branches back to suitable growth points and takes 10 to 30 per cent off the overall size, leaving a smaller version of the same shape. Crown thinning removes a proportion of the inner branches to let light and wind through without changing height or spread. Crown lifting takes off the lowest limbs to clear a path, a drive or a lawn, and is usually the cheapest of the three at £250 to £1,000.
Pollarding is a separate discipline with a long cycle. Cutting a young tree back to a framework of stubs and repeating every two to five years produces the familiar lime and willow forms along British streets. Starting a pollard on a mature tree that has never had one is a much bigger intervention and carries real risk of decay at the cuts. Topping, which is indiscriminate cutting across the crown at a convenient height, is not recognised practice under BS 3998:2010 and a contractor who offers it is worth passing over.
Price lists disagree wildly here, and one well known cost site publishes £250 to £1,150 on its crown reduction page and £2,200 to £5,500 on its pruning page for the same work. Every working firm checked falls in the lower band. Consent matters as much as price: reducing a tree under a preservation order without written permission is an offence, and councils charge nothing for an application, although an arboricultural agent charges £145 to £500 to prepare one.
Choosing someone for the job
What percentage comes off, and is the figure written on the quote? Which of reduction, thinning and lifting does the price actually cover? Does the contractor work to BS 3998:2010, and will cuts be made back to suitable growth points rather than straight across? Has the council been asked about consent, and who submits the application? When in the year will the work happen, given nesting birds and the sap rise in birch and walnut?
Common questions
How much of a crown can safely come off?
Standard practice removes 10 to 30 per cent, measured as branch length rather than volume of leaf. Taking more in a single visit stresses the tree and provokes a flush of weak regrowth that needs cutting again within two or three years.
How often does a reduction need repeating?
Vigorous species such as lime, willow and sycamore return to their previous size within three to five years. Slower trees including oak and yew hold their shape for eight years or longer.