Tree Protection Bill

Overview

The Tree Protection Bill sets out to:

• Amend and strengthen primary legislation to provide enhanced legal protection for Northern Ireland’s oldest and most significant trees and woodlands.
• Reform the Tree Preservation Order (TPO) system to align with practice in England, Scotland, and Wales—closing loopholes, ensuring consistent enforcement across local authorities, and broadening designation criteria to reflect the full environmental, social, and health benefits of trees.
• Ensure legislative protections reflect the modern understanding of the role trees play in climate resilience and public health.
• Protect ancient and long-established woodland by introducing enforceable safeguards against development, recognising these habitats as irreplaceable.

Why your views matter

Under the Assembly’s usual legislative process, the Tree Protection Bill will only be subject to detailed scrutiny by the Committee for Infrastructure if it passes Second Stage.

In anticipation of that, the Committee is inviting views on the Bill’s objectives, proposals, and potential impacts.

Should the Bill proceed to Committee Stage, this evidence will help inform the Committee’s detailed consideration.

Please note, you can choose which parts of the survey you wish to respond to. You do not have to complete the whole survey and can choose which sections or individual pages to complete.

Links to the Bill along with the Explanatory and Financial Memorandum can be found below.

Call for Evidence

As part of the Assembly’s legislative processes, the Committee will now consider and take evidence on the Bill and report its opinion to the Assembly. This is known as the 'Committee Stage' of the Bill. It is the responsibility of the Committee to examine the provisions within the Bill during the Committee Stage.

As part of its work, the Committee is seeking views from stakeholders on the objectives, proposals and potential consequences of the Bill and would welcome your views and comments on its contents.

 _{The closing date for submissions is 16 September 2026}

How to submit your views

Subminssions can be made on the Citizen Space platform on this link.

If you are unable to complete the survey then your submission can be submitted in writen format. It is important that your submission is structured to address the specific clauses and schedules of the Bill. If appropriate, it should include any amendments you wish to propose to the text of the Bill.

Written submissions should be sent electronically in Word format (not PDF) to: committee.infrastructure@niassembly.gov.uk

If you cannot submit electronically you may send a hard copy written submission to:

Clerk to the Committee for Infrastructure
Room 416

Parliament Buildings
Ballymiscaw
Stormont,
Belfast,
BT4 3XX.

Organisations or individuals responding to this call for views should note that their written submission (either in whole or part) may be published on the Committee webpage and may be quoted in the Committee’s report or referred to in Committee meetings (which are public and are broadcast).

The Committee recognises that in some circumstances people may prefer for their evidence to be treated as confidential or published anonymously. If you wish to do this, please make this clear when submitting your evidence.

Before sending us your views please read the Northern Ireland Assembly Committees Privacy Notice.  This tells you how we process your personal data.

Useful Information