Tree protection plan and method statement: what each contains

A tree protection plan planning submission is two documents doing two jobs. The plan is a drawing that shows where protection goes. The method statement is written instruction on how the work is carried out around it. Conditions routinely ask for both, and submissions that provide a shaded drawing with no methodology, or a page of text with no plan, come back unapproved.

Both sit on top of a tree survey. Without the survey schedule and the categories, there is nothing to protect and no basis for the root protection areas.

How the two documents divide the work

Think of it as static and dynamic information.

The plan carries everything fixed in space: which trees are retained, which are removed, root protection areas, construction exclusion zones, the line of protective barriers, ground protection areas, the position of site access and storage, and service routes.

The method statement carries everything that happens in time: the order of operations, the specification for each protective measure, how excavation near roots is carried out, foundation details where they fall close to a tree, tree surgery specification, who supervises, when they visit and what they report.

The plan is produced by the arboriculturist from the survey and the tree survey schedule, and it needs the engineer's and the contractor's input to be realistic. A protection plan drawn without knowing where the crane will stand is a plan that will be varied on site.

Root protection areas shown on the plan

The root protection area is the area of ground around a tree that has to stay undisturbed. For a single stem tree it is derived from the stem diameter measured at 1.5 metres above ground, multiplied by twelve to give a radius and then converted to an area, subject to a maximum.

Two points that get missed. The area can be reshaped where a wall, a road or an existing building means roots cannot be where the circle suggests, and the reshaping has to keep the same total area and be explained. And reducing the area needs evidence, which means root investigation by trial trenching or air excavation rather than an assertion that roots will not be there.

Show the area on the drawing as a hatched zone with the tree number, and show the construction exclusion zone, which is often the same shape but defined by the fence line rather than by the calculation.

Protective fencing specification and where it goes

Specify the barrier rather than referring to fencing in general terms. The default for a construction exclusion zone is a rigid barrier of scaffold framework with welded mesh panels, braced and anchored so that it cannot be pushed over, with signage identifying the protected area.

Lighter proprietary fencing is sometimes accepted where the risk is lower and the duration is short, and the method statement should say which is being used where, and why. Where the fence line has to be moved for a particular operation, name the operation, the duration and the supervision required.

Ground protection covers the places where access across a root protection area cannot be avoided. The usual specification is scaffold boards on scaffold poles over a compressible layer, or interlocking proprietary panels, laid on a geotextile with no excavation beneath.

Details worth putting on the drawing:

• The fence line dimensioned from a fixed feature so it can be set out.
• Gates or access points, with the reason for each.
• Ground protection extents and the specification reference.
• Storage, mixing and welfare positions clear of every root protection area.
• Service routes and where they cross a protected area.
• Signage positions.

No-dig construction and special engineering

Where a driveway, path or parking bay has to sit within a root protection area, the answer is a surface built above the existing ground rather than into it. A three dimensional cellular confinement system on a geotextile, filled with a clean granular material and finished with a permeable surface, spreads the load without excavation.

It has consequences the design has to accept. The finished level rises, which affects thresholds, drainage falls and the junction with adjacent surfaces. Getting that right early is easier than retrofitting a step.

Foundations near trees are the other engineering question. Pile and beam, or a piled solution with a suspended slab, avoids a continuous trench through the rooting zone, and hand digging or air excavation with roots retained is used where a trench cannot be avoided. Specify the pruning of any root that must be cut, with a maximum diameter and a clean cut by a competent person, and the detail of working near roots belongs in the method statement rather than on the drawing.

Illustrative example. A single plot infill with a mature oak on the front boundary, protected by a tree preservation order. The root protection area covers the whole of the proposed drive. The scheme uses a cellular confinement system across the drive with a permeable gravel finish, a barrier around the remainder of the area during construction, ground protection over the access strip, and pile and beam foundations to the nearest corner of the house. The method statement sets out the sequence: fencing first, then ground protection, then hand dig the service trench under supervision, then the drive last so it is not used as a haul route.

Supervision, monitoring and site visits

Name the arboriculturist, state their qualifications, and set out a monitoring schedule tied to operations rather than to dates. A typical schedule covers the pre-start meeting, inspection of the installed protection, attendance during any work inside a root protection area, and an inspection before the protection is removed.

Each visit should produce a short written record sent to the contractor and, where the condition requires it, to the local planning authority. That paper trail is what discharges the condition, and it is also what protects you if a tree declines two years later.

Give the site team something usable. A single A3 sheet with the plan, the do and do not list, and the arboriculturist's phone number, displayed in the site office, prevents most of the incidents that monitoring exists to catch.

Phasing so protection is in place before works start

Read the condition wording carefully. Most tree conditions bite before development, and development usually includes demolition, site clearance and site set up. So the protection goes in before the first machine arrives, not before the foundations are poured.

A workable sequence:

1. Pre-start meeting with the contractor, the arboriculturist and the case officer where they will attend.
2. Approved tree surgery carried out, with any protected tree consents already in place.
3. Protective barriers and ground protection installed, and photographed.
4. Written confirmation to the authority that the protection is in place.
5. Demolition and clearance.
6. Construction, with supervised operations as scheduled.
7. Removal of protection at the agreed stage, with a final inspection.

Coordinate this with the wider logistics, because the same ground is wanted for storage and standing. Where a Construction Management Plan is conditioned, the two documents should show the same compound position and the same access route, and the wider question of sequencing tree conditions is worth resolving before work is programmed.

Discharging the condition with the right document

Read what the condition actually asks for. Three wordings are common, and they need different submissions.

A condition requiring a tree protection plan in accordance with BS 5837 needs the drawing, and usually the method statement with it because the plan alone cannot show specifications or sequence. A condition requiring an arboricultural method statement needs the text, with the plan appended. A condition requiring details of tree protection needs both, plus the monitoring schedule.

Submit them as a single application with a short covering note that maps each part of the condition to the page that answers it. Include the survey schedule as an appendix even where it was submitted with the application, because the officer discharging the condition may not be the one who determined it.

Felling or pruning a tree protected by a tree preservation order, or a tree in a conservation area, is a separate consent under the 2012 Regulations. A planning permission that shows a tree being removed does not authorise the work unless the permission itself covers it, so check before the chainsaw is booked.

PlanScope drafts the arboricultural narrative and the supporting statements around a tree constrained scheme from your site data, and flags where survey figures such as stem diameters have to be inserted. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. For specialist technical reports, qualified professional input may be required, and councils expect a tree survey and method statement prepared by a suitably qualified arboriculturist working to BS 5837:2012.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which of the reports a site needs apply where trees are involved.