Dealing with leaf fall

Hounslow Highways maintains over 12,500 street trees on behalf of the London Borough of Hounslow.

It is inevitable that leaves will fall from deciduous trees.  Hounslow Highways is responsible for clearing leaves and debris from trees that fall onto the public areas that we maintain.

The leaf clearance programme is compiled using past experience and data gathered from leaf-fall patterns associated with different tree species, including periods of leaf-drop and the volumes expected to fall. Hot summer weather, high winds, storms and frosts can sometimes accelerate leaf-fall causing our leaf clearance operation to commence earlier than expected. Similarly, mild, dry weather in early autumn may delay the start of the leaf clearance season.

During this period, we employ extra resource to support the cleansing teams to help keep the streets clear of leaves. Each ward in the borough will be visited between December and March to clear leaf fall specifically.

Please see below the link to the 2024/2025 Leafing Schedule. The leafing schedule will begin the week commencing 4 November 2024. Not all roads will be listed in the schedule however, because the fortnightly Ward Based Cleanse will pick up the roads not included in the schedule. Please see our Street Cleansing page for the Ward Based Cleansing Schedule.

If there is excessive leaf fall, and the road is not listed in the schedule, please log a report through the website for assessment and reactive action, if required.

What about the leaves in my garden?

Hounslow Highways is responsible for clearing leaves off the public roads and pavements on the network we maintain on behalf of the London Borough of Hounslow.

It is the responsibility of the property owner to clear leaves off their own land, our teams will not clear leaves from private property. Please do not sweep leaves onto the pavements after our teams have carried out leaf clearance as this will affect the schedule if our teams have to schedule in a return visit.

What can I do to help?

For more information, please visit our Litter Picking Events page.