Trees and Arboriculture – Page 3
BS 5837 tree surveys, root protection, method statements and Tree Preservation Orders.
Trees and Arboriculture articles – page 3
262 articlesUtility trenches near trees and trenchless alternatives
The tree survives the groundworks and then dies four years after the electricity connection. Service routes are where root protection fails, and the fix is in the order you place.
Evidencing compliance with canopy cover policies
Canopy cover policies are simple to state and awkward to evidence. This sets out the measurement, the maturity projection and the tables that settle the question.
Tree planting that counts towards biodiversity net gain
Planting trees is a weaker generator of biodiversity units than most schemes assume. This explains how the statutory metric accounts for trees and what has to be secured for 30 years.
Felling licences and the volume threshold that triggers one
Five cubic metres a quarter, of which two may be sold, is the whole allowance under the Forestry Act 1967. The exemptions matter as much as the threshold, and restocking conditions run with the land.
What an arboricultural method statement must contain
A method statement is the written procedure for every activity near a retained tree, in order, with responsibilities attached. Officers refuse the ones that describe trees instead of naming who does what.
Designing layouts to avoid future pressure to fell trees
BS 5837 protection keeps a tree alive to handover. Layout decides whether it survives ten years of residents. Mature canopy testing, plot sizing and funded management.
Root protection areas for multi-stem and coppiced trees
Two to five stems combine as the square root of the sum of squares. More than five use the mean. How to derive, cap and reshape a root protection area defensibly.
Tree bonds: securing protection through a planning obligation
A tree bond is money secured by a section 106 obligation and forfeited if protected trees are damaged. Here is how the sum is set, how release works, and where a bond fails the statutory tests.
Biosecurity measures for tree works on a development site
Chippers, soil, arisings and imported nursery stock all move tree pests around a site. Here is what a council expects in the biosecurity section of an arboricultural method statement, and wording a condition can actually secure.
Utility trenching close to trees on a development site
Most retained trees are lost to a service trench dug months after the arboricultural drawings were approved. Here is the routing hierarchy, the techniques and the conditions that actually work.
Tree shading of solar arrays and future growth
Partial shade costs more output than its size suggests, but felling a protected tree for an array rarely succeeds. A yield calculation plus a specified crown management cycle usually does.
Winter inspection limits on a tree survey
A leaf off survey fixes stem diameters, root protection areas and categories perfectly well. Crown condition, decay fungi and species confirmation are weaker, and the report has to say so.
Scaffolding and site access within a root protection area
Temporary works cause most construction damage to trees. Here is how scaffold loads, access routes and crane outriggers are handled inside a construction exclusion zone, and how to agree an incursion before it happens.
Presenting arboricultural evidence at a planning committee
Members are not reading your BS 5837 survey. How to reduce it to three drawings, answer the replacement planting question honestly, and handle a contrary tree officer recommendation.
Tree establishment and defects periods in a condition
A five year tree replacement condition is not a defects period. How to fix the trigger date, keep species substitution open, and allocate the aftercare cost before it surprises you.
Retaining a tree above a basement or piled foundation
Retaining a tree above a basement starts with the root protection area, not the structural grid. Root investigation, pile offsets, cantilevered slabs and the groundwater effects that show up years later.
Transplanting a mature tree as mitigation
Tree officers read most transplant offers as felling applications with extra steps. What changes that is a survival assessment, a real preparation programme and a replacement obligation.
Remediating soil compaction inside a root protection area
Compaction is the commonest cause of decline in retained trees, and the canopy shows it a year or more late. Remediation is measurable work with a three-year tail.
Root barriers: where they work and where they fail
Root barriers are offered far more often than they are justified. The trench that installs one does the damage on day one, and the benefit only arrives decades later.
Root ingress into drains and the evidence councils accept
Roots enter drains through existing defects, which is why a blockage on its own will not win consent to fell a protected tree. Here is the evidence a tree officer actually reads.
Ash dieback and protected ash trees on a site
A declining ash is still protected until it is dead. Assessment, consent route, wildlife checks and the automatic replanting duty all have to be handled in order.
The duty to consult before felling a street tree
The Environment Act 2021 duty requires highway authorities to consult before felling street trees, with exemptions that are where most disputes start.
Prosecution for unauthorised works to a protected tree
Section 210 offences carry unlimited fines, reach contractors as well as owners, and sit alongside an automatic duty to replant that runs with the land.
Appealing a refused tree consent decision
A refusal under a Tree Preservation Order can be appealed to the Planning Inspectorate within 28 days, free of charge. Conservation area notices carry no appeal right at all.
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