Tree work on Gower: what the National Landscape designation means for your garden

Published 25 October 2026

Gower is a special place to have a garden, and a slightly more complicated one to have trees in. Between the National Landscape designation, a run of conservation-area villages, commons, protected wildlife sites and the wind off the Bristol Channel, homeowners and smallholders here often aren’t sure what they can do without asking. This guide goes through what applies on Gower specifically. For the basic checks that apply anywhere in Swansea (TPOs, conservation area notices, felling licences), see our guide to whether you need permission to cut down a tree in Swansea.

What the National Landscape designation does, and doesn’t, do

Gower was designated in 1956 as the first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the UK. Since late 2023 it has been known as the Gower National Landscape. Swansea Council says the new name doesn’t change its commitment to protecting the landscape, and it works as a name change rather than a new set of rules.

For your garden, the important point is that the designation protects the landscape as a whole. It does not, by itself, put a Tree Preservation Order on your trees or mean you need consent to prune them. Swansea Council looks after the area through an AONB team and a statutory management plan, which guides how the council and its partners care for the landscape. Day to day, what decides whether you need permission for tree work is the same as anywhere else in Swansea: a TPO, a conservation area, or a planning condition.

Conservation area villages: the rule most likely to catch you out

Swansea has 31 conservation areas, and a large share of them are Gower villages. They include Reynoldston, Penrice, Llanmadoc, Llangennith, Rhossili, Port Eynon, Horton, Cheriton, Ilston, Landimore, Llanrhidian, Bishopston and Penclawdd.

In any of these, you must give Swansea Council six weeks’ written notice before cutting down or pruning a tree, unless the trunk is under 7.5cm across at 1.5 metres above the ground. The council can’t refuse the notice, but it can use the six weeks to protect the tree with a TPO. Our protected trees service can handle the notice for you.

Trees are often part of why these villages were designated in the first place. The council’s notes on each area show this:

• Penrice is described as a small hamlet on a wooded knoll overlooking Oxwich Bay, with a very fine yew in the churchyard and a mature wood to the east of the church giving shelter.
• Reynoldston sits on the south side of Cefn Bryn, and its notes stress how the village blends into the landscape around it.
• Llanmadoc ends at the hedge-lined Rhiwlas Green, which opens onto the northern flank of Llanmadoc Hill.

So a tree that looks ordinary to you may be one the council sees as part of the village’s character.

How to check: conservation area boundaries can be viewed on DataMapWales, and Swansea Council’s conservation areas page has a residents’ guidance note. Check the map rather than assuming a property on the edge of a village is outside.

Smallholdings, paddocks and field boundaries

Many Gower properties come with a paddock, a field or a strip of woodland. Three sets of rules can apply here that don’t apply to an ordinary garden.

Felling licences. Garden trees are exempt from felling licences, but trees in a field or woodland are not. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) lets you fell up to five cubic metres of timber in a calendar quarter without a licence. Above that, outside a garden, orchard, churchyard or public open space, you’ll usually need a licence from NRW before felling. Pruning, crown reduction and crown lifting don’t need one. See our guide to felling licences in Wales.

Hedgerows. The Hedgerows Regulations 1997 protect hedgerows on or next to agricultural land, common land, land used for keeping horses, and Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Hedgerows in or alongside a garden aren’t covered, and nor are those under 20 metres long unless they join other hedgerows. If a hedgerow is covered, the landowner must send the council a hedgerow removal notice before taking it out. The council has six weeks to respond and can issue a retention notice if the hedgerow is “important”. Removing one without permission is a criminal offence, so check before grubbing out a field hedge to widen a gateway or join two fields. For timing, see our guide to bird nesting season and tree work.

SSSIs and commons. Much of Gower’s open land, such as Cefn Bryn, is common land, and Cefn Bryn is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation. If your land is within an SSSI, owners and occupiers must get written consent from NRW before carrying out any of the operations listed for that site as likely to damage it. Each SSSI’s list is different, so if your land borders a common or a nature site, check with NRW before felling or clearing.

Coastal exposure and storm damage

Gardens in the south and west of the peninsula, from Rhossili to Port Eynon and Oxwich, take the full force of winter gales. Trees there are often shaped by the wind, with lopsided crowns and limbs that have been stressed for years. Some practical points:

• Reduce rather than remove where you can. A sensitive crown reduction can lower the wind load on an exposed tree and keep the shelter it gives your house and garden. On a windswept plot, losing a shelter tree can leave everything behind it more exposed.
• Storm damage doesn’t cancel protection. A storm-damaged tree with a TPO, or in a conservation area, is still protected. The Welsh Government’s guidance says you don’t need consent to remove a tree that is dead, dying or dangerous, but it advises giving the council at least five days’ notice first, except in a real emergency, and the council can still ask for a replacement. Take photos before any work.
• Plan heavy work for autumn and winter. This avoids most of the bird nesting season, and leaf-free crowns are easier to assess for damage.

Wildlife: nests and bats

NRW notes that the law protects all wild birds, their active nests and their eggs, and that bats are protected too. Older trees with cavities or loose bark can hold bat roosts, so have a tree checked before major felling or reduction, whatever the time of year.

How we help on Gower

Our teams work across the peninsula, from Parkmill and Penmaen out to Rhossili and Llangennith. When we quote, we check whether your property is in a conservation area or near a protected site, and tell you about any notice or consent needed before work is booked. If a notice or application is needed, we can prepare the work specification and wait for the six weeks, or the council’s decision, before starting. See our tree surgeons on Gower page for more on the area we cover, or get a free quote.