Council and street trees in Stockport: who to contact

Published 8 November 2026

Not every tree near your house is yours to deal with. The tree on the pavement outside, the oak at the edge of the park behind your fence and the sycamore growing into the power lines all belong to someone else, and each has its own route for reporting a problem. This guide sets out who looks after which trees around Stockport and the neighbouring boroughs our town pages cover, what councils will and won't do, and when it makes sense to call a tree surgeon instead.

First, work out who owns the tree

Before you report anything, work out whose land the tree is growing on. Stockport Council's own guidance is clear that "a tree located within a neighbours garden or other private land, is the responsibility of the owner of the land", and that the council "doesn't arbitrate private tree disputes" unless council land is directly affected. Broadly, there are four kinds of owner:

• The council's highways team: trees on pavements and roadside verges of adopted roads.
• The council's parks or greenspace team: trees in parks, playing fields and open spaces.
• A housing association or other landlord: trees on estates and in the gardens of rented homes.
• A private owner: your neighbour, a landlord, a business or a school.

If it's a neighbour's tree, our guide to a neighbour's tree overhanging your garden covers your rights and how to approach them.

Stockport Council

Stockport Council looks after the street and park trees in Stockport, Bramhall, Marple, Hazel Grove and Bredbury.

• Dangerous, fallen or illegally felled trees: call 0161 217 6111.
• Everything else (an overgrown, damaged or dead council tree, or vegetation blocking a road, pavement, sign, street light or CCTV camera): use the council's online report-a-problem form. It asks for the location, what the problem is and what it's affecting, and you can add photos.

It helps to know how the council works. All its highway trees and park trees are inspected on area-by-area schedules. After an inspection and any work, the council says it won't normally go back to a street for 12 months, or to a park for three years, unless emergency work is needed. High-priority work is done within 10 working days of inspection; other safety or nuisance work can take 12 to 24 months.

What Stockport Council won't do:

• prune trees to reduce falling leaves, blossom or berries
• prune for sap (honeydew), which it says "is not readily controllable by pruning"
• prune for light or TV reception as a matter of course. There is "no legal right to light in an open space or garden" and "no legal right to good television reception". It will consider either case by case, as a chargeable service, and for TV only once engineering fixes have been tried.

If a tree on private land is blocking a road, pavement, sign or street light, the council can serve the owner 14 days' statutory notice to cut it back. If the work isn't done, the council does it and recharges the owner "at full cost". If that's your tree, it's cheaper to sort it out first.

Stockport Homes

If the tree is on a Stockport Homes estate or in the garden of a Stockport Homes property, contact Stockport Homes rather than the council. Its tree policy (January 2026) says it will remove dead, dying or dangerous trees as soon as practical, but won't remove or prune a tree "to mitigate shade" or "solely to alleviate problems caused by natural and/or seasonal phenomena" such as leaves, sap or blossom. Tenants need written permission before removing, altering or planting a tree or hedge.

Cheshire East (Wilmslow, Alderley Edge, Poynton, Handforth, Knutsford, Chelford)

Cheshire East sends reports to different teams depending on where the tree is:

• Roadside trees and hedges: report online through the council's traCE system. For immediate danger, such as a fallen branch across a road or footway, call 0300 123 5025.
• Parks, play areas and open spaces: use the grounds maintenance form.
• Countryside sites such as the Middlewood Way: email the rangers at rangers@cheshireeast.gov.uk.

Cheshire East points out that most roadside trees and hedges are privately owned, and that it acts on its own trees only if a tree is "dead, diseased or dying or damaging property". It also says it gives notice before removing a roadside tree with a trunk over 30cm across.

Trafford, Manchester and Tameside

• Trafford (Altrincham, Bowdon, Hale): Trafford owns all trees on public land, and you're not allowed to work on them yourself. For urgent problems, call Access Trafford on 0161 912 2000 (9am to 5pm) or 0161 912 2020 out of hours. Everything else goes to the Tree Unit's online form. Trafford asks people not to report light or views, because highway trees are inspected every three to four years, and it won't prune for TV signal or leaves.
• Manchester (Wythenshawe): report above-ground problems on public land to the arboriculture team, and roots to the highways team. For an extremely dangerous tree, call 0161 234 5004. Manchester won't prune for light, satellite reception, leaves or sap, or remove trees because roots have got into damaged drains. That's for your insurer. If the tree is on housing land, contact the social landlord.
• Tameside (Hyde, Denton): Tameside's trees service charter says complaints about trees encroaching on the highway are investigated within 48 hours, and dangerous trees are made safe within 24 hours. The trees and privets team is on 0161 342 8355.

Trees near power lines and phone lines

Never cut or climb a tree that is touching overhead power lines, and don't let anyone else do it. In an emergency involving electricity equipment or power lines, call 105. Around Stockport, the network operator SP Electricity North West sends its own surveyors to trees near its overhead wires and says "there will be no charge for this work"; its number is 0800 195 41 41. For trees on BT or Openreach phone lines, report it to Openreach.

Roots, subsidence and damage claims

If you think a council tree is damaging your house or drains, speak to your buildings insurer first. Trafford and Manchester both say that's the route. Our guide to tree roots near your house explains what evidence you'll need and how Stockport and Cheshire East handle claims.

When it's your tree (or your side of the boundary)

If the tree is yours, you're responsible for it, including any branches over the road or pavement. You can usually cut back a neighbour's or a council tree's branches to your boundary, from your own side, but check first whether the tree has a Tree Preservation Order or is in a conservation area, and look for nesting birds (see our bird nesting season guide). If you're not sure the tree is safe, our guide to the signs a tree could be dangerous is a good place to start.

Our teams can't work on council or street trees, but we can handle everything on your side: crown lifting over a pavement, tree pruning back to the boundary or tree removal where it's needed. Get a free quote.