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BS5837 tree survey
If your planning officer has asked for a tree survey, this is almost certainly the one they mean. A qualified arboricultural consultant visits the site, records every tree that could affect your proposals, and produces the survey schedule and constraints plan your application needs to be validated.
Typical cost
£395 to £900
survey, schedule and tree constraints plan. The real range, not a headline figure that moves once we have seen the site.
Get a fixed quote →Your quote
One Working Day
A fixed fee in writing within one working day, which does not move once we are on site.
Ask for one →Who writes it
A named consultant
Produced and signed by a qualified arboricultural consultant carrying their own professional indemnity. You get their name before you commit, not after.
Get a fixed quote →A BS5837:2012 survey records each tree on and adjacent to the site: species, height, stem diameter, crown spread, age class, physiological and structural condition, estimated remaining contribution, and a category grade of A, B, C or U. Category U trees are those that should be removed regardless of your development; category A are the ones a council will fight hardest to keep.
From that survey we produce the tree constraints plan — a drawing overlaid on your site plan showing each tree's root protection area and shading, so you and your architect can see exactly which parts of the plot are genuinely buildable before anyone commits to a layout.
The deliverable is a PDF report with the survey schedule, the constraints plan as a scaled drawing, and a covering set of recommendations. It is signed by the consultant who wrote it and carries their professional indemnity.
Most local planning authorities require a BS5837 survey where there are trees on the site or close enough to be affected by it — including trees in a neighbouring garden whose roots or canopy reach across the boundary. It is usually named on the authority's validation checklist, which means without it your application is not registered at all.
It is worth commissioning it before the design is finalised rather than after. A constraints plan produced early tells your architect where they can build; produced late, it tells everyone why the drawings need redoing.
The single most expensive mistake in this process is designing a scheme, submitting it, and then discovering a category A oak sits with its root protection area under your proposed extension. At that point you are redesigning, resubmitting and paying twice.
A survey costs a few hundred pounds. A refused application costs months.
Often yes. BS5837 covers trees whose root protection areas or canopies extend into your site, regardless of who owns them. If a neighbouring tree could be affected by your groundworks, it belongs in the survey.
The survey records what is there. The impact assessment says what your specific proposals will do to it and how the effects will be mitigated. Many authorities ask for both; some only require the impact assessment once a design exists. If you are not sure, send us the validation checklist and we will tell you which you need.
No. A TPO is a legal protection on a specific tree; the survey is a technical assessment of all trees on the site. If your trees are protected we will identify it in the survey and can handle the separate consent application.
Most authorities accept a survey up to about twelve months old, though a fast-changing site or a tree in decline can shorten that. If your application stalls and the report ages out, an update visit is much cheaper than a fresh survey.
No. A BS5837 survey requires stem diameter measurements at 1.5m and a visual tree assessment from the ground. Anyone offering to do it from photographs is not producing a report your planning officer will accept.
Tell us about the site and we will come back with a fixed fee and a date. No charge for asking, and no charge for being told you need less than you thought.