Tree surgery and garden clearance in South Birmingham

South Birmingham has more tree rules per square mile than anywhere else in the city. Moseley, Selly Park, Bournville, Kings Norton and Northfield all have conservation areas, and in Bournville a private landlord, the Bournville Village Trust, has its own say over trees on freehold properties. Get the order of permissions wrong and a routine pruning job can turn into an enforcement letter.

Nearly all of B13, B14, B28, B29, B30, B31 and B38 is Birmingham City Council, with small edges in Solihull (parts of B14 and B28) and Bromsgrove (the southern fringe of B31 and B38).

Branch and Bramble does not do the work. We connect you with one local specialist for this patch, and your agreement is with them.

Tree Preservation Orders and conservation areas

Of Birmingham's 29 conservation areas, these are in this patch:

• Moseley and St Agnes, Moseley, both with Article 4 Directions
• School Road, Hall Green
• Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues, both with Article 4 Directions
• Bournville Village (Article 4 Direction) and Bournville Tenants
• Kings Norton, around The Green and St Nicolas' church
• Northfield Old Village
• Austin Village, Longbridge (Article 4 Direction)

In any of them, Birmingham City Council requires six weeks' notice before work on a tree with a trunk more than 75mm across at 1.5m high. You give notice on the council's tree works consent form or in writing with the same information (trees in conservation areas). Dead or dangerous trees are an exception, but the council advises that a tree surgeon should usually give it five days' notice of urgent work. Our guide to trees in conservation areas has more.

Outside those areas, check for a Tree Preservation Order on the council's online TPO map. You can also request a copy of an Order from the find out if a tree is protected page.

Bournville: the Trust's rules as well as the council's

Most of the Bournville Estate is covered by the Bournville Village Trust's Scheme of Management, which binds freehold homeowners as well as tenants. The Trust's 2024 estate design guide says that removing or felling any tree needs its approval, and that approval will be refused unless the tree is dead, dying or dangerous. A replacement tree must be planted, and the Trust asks for an arboricultural report if you want to remove a tree that looks healthy. Large non-native trees such as leylandii and other conifers are the exception: their removal will be considered, with a suitable replacement. Remedial work, branch thinning and maintenance don't need the Trust's approval if they are done to keep the tree healthy or extend its life, though it recommends a qualified, insured tree surgeon. Front hedges are expected to be kept and replaced like for like, not swapped for fencing or fast-growing conifers.

Where a tree is in the conservation area or has a TPO, you need both: get the council's consent first, send a copy to the Trust, and wait for the Trust's decision. Contact the Trust through its schemes of management page.

Garden waste and tips

Birmingham's paid garden waste collection was suspended in 2025 because of the bin strike, and everyone who had paid for 2025 was refunded. In January 2026 the council said the service could not return while the dispute went on. Check the council's garden waste page for the latest.

The patch's own tip is Kings Norton Household Recycling Centre, Lifford Lane, B30 3JJ. It is being redeveloped but stays open, with fewer booking slots than usual. Moseley, Hall Green and Kings Heath residents may find Tyseley, James Road, B11 2BA easier. Every visit needs a booking at least two hours ahead (cars up to six days in advance, vans up to seven), plus proof of a Birmingham address (booking page).

The local landscape

Moseley and Selly Park have large Victorian and Edwardian houses with deep gardens and trees to match: common lime, horse chestnut, copper beech, sycamore and the occasional huge London plane or Wellingtonia. Many are close to houses built long before anyone worried about root zones.

Bournville was built as a garden village, and the Trust's own design guide describes typical gardens as smaller at the front than the back, with mature trees, including fruit trees, at the rear. Front boundaries are often privet or beech hedges that the Trust wants kept.

Kings Heath, Stirchley and Cotteridge are mostly terraces with long, narrow gardens, often with no side access. Hall Green, Northfield and Kings Norton are largely interwar semis with conifer screens, fruit trees and sheds at the bottom of the garden. Druids Heath and West Heath have post-war and 1960s estates with smaller plots.

The River Rea and its tributaries run through the patch, and gardens along them tend towards willow, alder and damp ground.

Tree work in South Birmingham

Here, the job often starts with paperwork. A crown reduction on a Moseley lime or a Selly Park beech needs six weeks' notice to the council before anyone climbs, so it makes sense to get the specialist's advice early and let them help with the notice. In Bournville, the Trust doesn't need to approve thinning or maintenance done for the tree's health, but felling needs its approval as well as the council's. Good tree surgeons are used to working to these timescales.

The work itself is often technical: large trees close to houses, reached through narrow terrace entries or over neighbours' gardens, and taken down in sections on ropes. Removal of a small tree starts from £280, and big trees in tight gardens take longer.

Typical jobs:

• Crown reduction of limes, sycamores and beeches that shade whole gardens
• Pollarding of limes and planes that have been pollarded before and need re-cutting on cycle
• Tree removal of self-sown sycamore and ash at the end of Kings Heath gardens
• Hedge reduction of conifer rows in Hall Green and Northfield
• Stump removal where a new patio or extension is going in

The specialist we pass your enquiry to has had their insurance and NPTC certificates checked. See the South Birmingham tree surgery page or all tree services.

Garden clearance in South Birmingham

Access is the biggest factor in clearance prices here. A Kings Heath or Stirchley terrace with no rear access means every bag goes through the hall, so specialists allow extra time for dust sheets and carrying. Clearances start from £220, with all waste removed.

Selly Oak and Bournbrook have a large number of shared student houses near the University of Birmingham, and their gardens tend to be left for years at a time. End-of-tenancy clearances for landlords usually mean overgrown garden clearance, bramble clearance and removal of rubbish that has collected outside.

Other common jobs:

• Clearing the bottom third of a long Moseley or Hall Green garden that has gone to bramble and self-sown sycamore
• Shed removal of old sheds and greenhouses before a garden redesign
• Green waste removal for people who have done their own pruning and have no brown bin to use
• Hedge trimming of privet and beech frontages in Bournville, where the Trust expects hedges to be kept in good order

Lifford Lane does not take commercial vehicles, so clearance waste goes through licensed sites. Read our fly-tipping guide before accepting a cheap cash offer. See the South Birmingham garden clearance page or all clearance services.