Submissions & Regulations · 28 September 2026

Trees on Your Landed Property: What NParks Approval Means Before You Build

A tree on a landed plot rarely shows up in the first conversation about an A&A or a rebuild. The talk is about the new footprint, the extra floor, the car porch — not the mature tree in the back garden that the new plan does not leave room for. Many owners assume that because the tree stands on their own title, removing it is entirely their call. In parts of Singapore, that assumption is wrong, and finding out on demolition day is a bad way to learn it.

The rule that catches people out

Singapore has two gazetted Tree Conservation Areas (TCAs). Inside them, NParks states that developers and homeowners who need to cut any tree with a girth of more than one metre must first get written approval from the Commissioner of Parks & Recreation — regardless of whether development works are in progress on the site. "We have not started building yet" is not an exception.

A girth of one metre is not an ancient, gnarled specimen. Plenty of trees planted well within living memory, on a boundary line or at the back of a landed garden, already clear it by the time an owner starts thinking about a rebuild. The trigger is the size of the trunk, not its age or how unremarkable it looks standing there.

Where the two Tree Conservation Areas are

NParks gazetted both on 2 August 1991 to control the cutting of mature trees. The Central TCA covers the central-south of the island; the Changi TCA, about 200 hectares, sits in the east around Changi Village and Loyang. NParks publishes the boundary roads for both, and its TreesSG map (under "Search/Plot a Tree", with the "Tree Conservation Areas" layer switched on) shows whether a particular plot falls inside. Outside the TCAs, do not assume a large tree is automatically free to fell either — ask NParks before cutting, not after.

Why this is a builder's question, not just a paperwork one

The approval itself is a submission to NParks, but the practical reason it belongs in the same conversation as the build is structural, not administrative. Excavation on a landed home already has to account for what sits below ground — drains, cables, the soil itself. A mature tree's root system is part of that picture too: a footing, a pile or a retaining wall placed too close to a root zone can undermine the tree even where felling was never intended, and a tree removed without warning partway through a job can leave a gap in the programme while the approval is chased retroactively. Sorting the tree question at the same stage as the site survey — not after the excavator has already arrived — keeps it from becoming a stoppage later.

This is also why it is worth raising with whoever is putting together your submission rather than treating it as a side errand. Where the felling is tied to development works, a Qualified Person can lodge the approval on the owner's behalf as part of the same submission process used for the rest of the plan — one fewer separate application for the owner to run themselves, provided it is flagged early enough to go in together.

What to actually check on your own plot

Before the first call to a builder, it is worth doing a plain walk of the plot with the new footprint in mind, the same way a homeowner is already expected to gather approved plans and a problem list before that call. Add one more item to that walk:

Note every tree the new plan sits close to — not just the one obviously in the way, but anything within a few metres of a planned footing, pile or driveway.
Estimate the trunk girth by eye, generously — if it looks like it could be close to a metre around at about waist height, treat it as one that needs checking rather than assuming it is under the threshold.
Do not fell anything before the plan is settled, even a tree you are certain has to go. If it turns out to need approval, felling it first and applying after is the wrong order.
Check whether your plot sits inside a Tree Conservation Area on the TreesSG map rather than assuming it does not.

None of this needs to be resolved before the first call. It only needs to be noticed, the same way a crack in a wall or a driveway that is too narrow for a lorry is worth photographing before the site visit rather than after. What the road outside your plot allows a crane or lorry to do gets the same "check before you assume" treatment, and a tree near the boundary is often the same conversation as the access route past it.

What this does not mean

None of this means every tree on a landed plot becomes a problem. The approval NParks describes is for trees over one metre in girth, not young or ornamental planting. The rule exists for mature trees specifically, and it exists because a landed estate's tree cover, once cleared, does not come back on any timeline that matters to the person who cleared it. The point is not to be nervous about every tree on the plot — it is to know which ones actually trigger a check, and to have that answer before the excavator shows up rather than after.

The short version

Inside a Tree Conservation Area, a tree with a girth of more than one metre needs written approval from NParks before it is cut — whether or not building works have started.
There are two TCAs, one in the central-south of the island and a smaller one around Changi. The TreesSG map shows whether your plot is inside one.
The question belongs at site-survey stage, not demolition day — root zones affect excavation and piling even where felling was never planned.
Where felling is tied to your development plan, a QP can lodge the NParks approval as part of the same submission, if it is raised early enough.
Walk the plot against the new footprint and flag anything close to a metre in girth before you fell it, not after.
The rule is about mature trees specifically, not every tree on the plot.

Working out whether a tree on your plot needs sorting out before your A&A or rebuild starts? WhatsApp us on 9107 2601 with roughly where the tree sits and what the plan is, and we can talk through where it fits in the build sequence. Wong Lye Pte Ltd holds a BCA General Builder Class 2 (GB2) licence and builds A&A works, extensions and reconstructions on landed homes across Singapore. See A&A works for landed homes.

Common questions

Does every tree on my landed plot need NParks approval before I remove it?

No. Inside a Tree Conservation Area, NParks requires written approval to cut a tree with a girth of more than one metre; smaller planting is not what that rule describes. Outside the TCAs, ask NParks before cutting a large tree rather than assuming.

If no construction has started yet, can I still fell a mature tree on my own land without approval?

Not inside a Tree Conservation Area. NParks states that the approval is needed regardless of whether development works are in progress on the site.

What is a Tree Conservation Area, and does it change the rule?

Singapore has two Tree Conservation Areas, gazetted on 2 August 1991: the Central TCA in the central-south of the island and the Changi TCA, about 200 hectares, in the east. They are where the one-metre girth approval rule applies. NParks' TreesSG map has a Tree Conservation Areas layer that shows whether a plot is inside.

Who applies for the NParks approval - the homeowner or the builder?

Where the cutting is due to development works, NParks says a Qualified Person can seek the approval on behalf of the homeowner. Where it is not, the homeowner applies to NParks directly, by email to its registry or through the OneService App.

Why does a builder care about a tree that is not even going to be felled?

A footing, pile or retaining wall placed too close to a mature tree's root zone during excavation can damage the tree even where nobody intended to fell it, which is why the tree question belongs in the site survey rather than as an afterthought once excavation has started.