Trees and Arboriculture – Page 8
BS 5837 tree surveys, root protection, method statements and Tree Preservation Orders.
Trees and Arboriculture articles – page 8
262 articlesOverhanging branches, roots and protected trees
The common law right to cut back to the boundary is settled. Tree preservation orders and conservation area notice requirements sit on top of it and take precedence.
Specifying crown reduction and pruning works properly
Reduce by 30 per cent cannot be drawn or checked. Specify crown reduction by branch length or final crown dimensions, and give the reason for every operation.
Tree replacement duties and replacement notices
Section 206 imposes a replacement duty the moment a protected tree is removed, including where it was felled lawfully as dead or dangerous. Notices only follow when the duty is ignored.
Felling licences and the quarterly volume exemption
The felling licence exemption allows five cubic metres of standing timber a calendar quarter with a two cubic metre sale limit. It gives no protection against a Tree Preservation Order.
Trees and subsidence claims on neighbouring property
A subsidence claim runs in private law while tree protection runs in planning law. Here is how causation is evidenced, when consent is needed, and why felling can make things worse.
Trees in the setting of a listed building
Trees in a listed building's curtilage need no listed building consent, but they can still be part of its setting. Here is how significance, harm and replacement planting are argued.
Pruning specifications and writing them properly
A pruning specification has to satisfy the tree officer, the contractor and the person inspecting afterwards. Using the right terms, expressing reductions as measurements, and wording that can be conditioned and enforced.
Retaining a tree through a construction programme
Most retained trees are lost during construction, not at design stage. Practical control of root protection areas, compound siting, ground protection, supervision and breach response.
Woodland felling licences and when planning is not enough
A felling licence is a separate consent from planning permission, and the exemption for permitted development is narrower than most landowners assume. Here is where the line falls.
Street trees, highway works and utility trenching
Trees in the public highway belong to the highway authority and are managed under a different regime from trees on your site. Here is how trenching, adoption agreements and removal actually work.
How the biodiversity metric treats trees on a site
The statutory metric records standalone trees as urban tree habitat by canopy area, and trees inside woodland or hedgerow parcels as part of those habitats. Mixing the two breaks the gain plan.
Removing an important hedgerow: the notice procedure
Countryside hedgerow removal runs on a notice, not an application. Serve it, wait 42 days, and check whether the hedgerow meets the Schedule 1 importance test first.
Trees, shrinkable clay and foundation depth
A BS 5837 survey tells you where the root protection area is, not how deep to dig. Depth comes from soil plasticity, species water demand and the distance to mature height ratio, and removing a tree adds a heave problem on top.
Modifying a root protection area on a constrained plot
BS 5837:2012 lets a root protection area be offset where roots are unlikely to be present, provided the total area stays the same. Here is the investigation evidence that justifies it and the way to present the arithmetic.
Trees, solar panels and shading disputes
There is no right to sunlight for a solar array. Here is how the amenity balance works, what evidence persuades, and which design alternatives usually beat felling.
Biosecurity and plant passports for nursery stock
Plant passports record traceability rather than plant health. Here is how to specify growing history, provenance and quarantine so a 30-year planting obligation survives.
Counting trees in an urban greening factor score
Trees earn their greening factor score through projected canopy area, but the factor applied depends on the soil volume you give them. Here is how the calculation works and where it goes wrong.
Woodland management plans and the felling they authorise
An approved woodland management plan carries felling permissions for ten years. Here is what the plan must contain, how restocking obligations work, and which operations still need planning permission.
Hedgerow planting as linear habitat in the metric
Hedgerows have their own module in the biodiversity metric, measured in metres. Here is how condition is scored, why enhancement usually beats new planting, and what to specify.
Tree risk assessment and the occupier duty of care
Tree safety duties are judged on the system, not on hindsight about one failed limb. Here is how to zone a site, set intervals, choose inspectors and record decisions defensibly.
Traditional orchards as a priority habitat
A neglected orchard with hollowing apple trees is a priority habitat, not waste ground. That changes the survey, the metric and the planning argument on a farm diversification scheme.
The council duty to protect trees when granting permission
Section 197 is a duty, not a power. Councils must consider conditions for tree preservation and planting whenever it is appropriate, and make orders where the permission makes them necessary.
Ash dieback on development sites and what to do
Ash dieback changes retention categories, felling consents and the biodiversity baseline at once. Treating it as a straightforward safety matter is how developers lose units and gain enforcement risk.
Tree roots, drains and boundary walls
Roots do not break sound pipework. They find an open joint and grow towards the leak, which is why the survey images decide who pays for the repair.
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