Leylandii and Conifer Removal in Worthing

Reduce or Remove? The Brown-Wood Problem

The RHS recommends trimming leylandii between April and the end of August, up to three times a season. The catch is that new growth will not appear from bare wood: cut into the old, leafless growth inside the hedge and it stays brown. A healthy hedge can usually lose up to a third of its height, ideally in early April, and taking off more can leave a bare, flat top or kill older or weaker plants. If your conifers need to come down by half or more, or the sides are already brown, a reduction will rarely give a result you are happy with. We will tell you honestly which side of that line yours sits on. See hedge trimming.

Does a Tall Conifer Wall Actually Shelter a Coastal Garden?

Not as well as people expect. The RHS advises that a windbreak works best when it is semi-permeable, filtering around 50 to 60 percent of the wind. Solid barriers create damaging eddies on each side, and a dense line of evergreens can behave in the same way. If you remove a screen you do not have to give up on shelter: the RHS lists hedging shrubs suited to exposed, salt-laden spots, including Elaeagnus x ebbingei, Euonymus japonicus, Olearia x haastii and sea buckthorn, and griselinia, escallonia and pittosporum where there is a little protection.

You do not need a felling licence to remove trees in a private garden, but you may still need council approval if the trees are protected. Adur & Worthing Councils publish a Tree Preservation Order register and online TPO maps for Worthing, Goring-by-Sea, Durrington, West Tarring, Broadwater, Findon Valley, High Salvington, Sompting, Lancing and Shoreham-by-Sea. Arun District Council shows TPOs and conservation areas on its interactive map for Ferring, East Preston, Rustington, Angmering and Littlehampton. In Findon village the South Downs National Park Authority is the planning authority. West Tarring and East Preston's old village centre are conservation areas, where you normally have to give six weeks' notice before cutting down or pruning a tree, unless the trunk is 75mm or less across at 1.5m. We check all of this before work is booked. See protected trees.

When It's Your Neighbour's Leylandii

Government guidance says a council can consider a complaint about a line of two or more mostly evergreen or semi-evergreen trees or shrubs, over 2 metres tall, that acts as a barrier to light or access. You must try to settle it with your neighbour first, and Adur & Worthing Councils point people to the West Sussex Mediation Service. The council cannot order a hedge removed, cut below 2 metres or cut in a way that kills it, and root problems are not covered. Adur & Worthing Councils list a fee of £300 (and say it cannot be repaid) and Arun District Council lists £450, both as listed in November 2026, so check the current figure.

Timing Around Nesting Birds

The RSPB says March to September is the main nesting season, and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects a wild bird's nest while it is in use or being built. Removals are often easiest in autumn and winter. Whenever the work happens, we check for active nests first and hold off if we find one. For conifers brought down in a gale, see emergency tree work.