Lewes Town Council voted unanimously on 10 September to back ten rights for every tree in town. What it commits the council to, and what it cannot do.

Lewes Town Council has adopted a charter that recognises ten rights for trees across the town. The motion was approved unanimously at the full council meeting on Thursday 10 September.

It covers every tree in Lewes, not a single named specimen. The motion defines “trees” to include “all woodlands, hedgerows, and forests as well as individual trees”.

The rights are not law. The council adopts them “as ethical and policy principles”, to guide its own decisions and what it says to other bodies, “within the limits of its statutory powers”. That limit matters, and it is explained below.

What the council voted on

The item was on the agenda for the 10 September full council meeting as “Motion - Rights of Trees”. Councillor Dinah Morgan proposed it and Councillor Andrew Norris seconded it.

The full text of the motion was published by the group that wrote it, and is marked “Approved by Full Council on 10th September 2026”. Friends of Lewes reported on 13 September that it “met with unanimous approval”. The council’s own minutes of the meeting have not been published yet.

The ten rights

The motion says the council “supports and champions” these rights:

  1. The right to life: to live and to be respected for their intrinsic value.
  2. The right to flourish: including healthy roots, soils and fungal networks.
  3. The right to respirate: to unpolluted air.
  4. The right to healthy soil: including undisturbed fungal networks between trees.
  5. The right to water: unpolluted, with a sustainable supply.
  6. The right to be restored: trees felled after planning decisions by public authorities should be replaced and cared for to maturity.
  7. The right to representation: any person or community may speak up for trees and ask public authorities to use their existing powers.
  8. The right to informed decisions: residents should get timely information about decisions that affect trees.
  9. The right to a precautionary approach: avoid harm first, then minimise it, then restore, with replacement planting “only as a last resort”.
  10. The right to complete natural life cycles: where it is safe, trees should be left in place as they decline and after death, because dead wood feeds soil and wildlife.

A further section says ancient, veteran and culturally significant trees “may require enhanced protection”. It also says the council should identify future veteran trees now, so that mature canopy carries on “across generations”.

What the council has promised to do

The motion lists nine commitments. The ones with practical effect are:

  • act as a “responsible guardian” of trees on land the council owns or manages, prioritising keeping them
  • apply the precautionary approach in its own decisions
  • use the charter’s principles when it responds to planning applications, local plans and Tree Preservation Orders
  • reflect the charter when it reviews its Climate Strategy Action Plan and the Lewes Neighbourhood Plan
  • support a local Rights of Trees Strategy for Lewes
  • back “well-evidenced community-led proposals” to protect locally important old trees

It also commits the council to support a time-limited working group. That group is to publish progress reports “against defined actions, responsibilities, and milestones”.

What it cannot do

The town council does not decide planning applications. In Lewes town, those go to the South Downs National Park Authority. The town council is a consultee: its Planning Committee agenda for 15 September lists seven applications for the council’s response, every one of them an SDNP reference. They include the resubmitted 60-home scheme at Eastgate Wharf.

So the charter changes what the town council will argue for, and how it treats its own trees. It does not bind the National Park Authority, the district or county council, or a private landowner. The motion itself says the principles are to be used “as material considerations where permitted by law”.

Who is behind it

The charter was drafted by a group called Rights of our Trees, or ROOTs. Friends of Lewes says it has been working on it since May 2026. The group includes:

  • the Trees Committee of Friends of Lewes, which runs the Lewes Urban Arboretum project
  • the Railway Land Wildlife Trust
  • the Environmental Justice Law Clinic at the University of Sussex
  • the Environmental Law Foundation
  • representatives of Lewes Town Council and Lewes Climate Hub
  • the Town Ranger and the South Downs National Park biodiversity officer

The work followed a toolkit the University of Sussex law clinic launched in March 2026. The university says the same principles were used in Rother, where the district council backed a motion in September 2025 supporting “personhood” for the 1066 Yew at Crowhurst and other heritage trees. The Lewes motion is wider in scope: it applies to all trees in the town.

The motion notes that the council has already endorsed the Rights of the River Ouse Charter, and that Lewes is an accredited arboretum town.

What it means for you

  • If a tree near you is threatened by a planning application, the town council has now committed to argue for keeping it, and to ask for replacements if it goes. Contact the town council before its Planning Committee considers the application. Committee agendas are published on the town council website.
  • If you know an old or culturally important tree, the council has promised to support “well-evidenced” community proposals to protect it. The motion’s appendix lists the kind of evidence that counts: age, veteran features such as hollowing or deadwood, landscape value and local history.
  • The final decision still sits elsewhere. For applications in the town, comment to the South Downs National Park Authority directly as well.
  • Watch for the working group’s reports. The motion promises published progress against milestones. None has been published yet.

For what is being decided in the town now, see our Lewes planning news.

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