BS5837 Tree Reports and Tree Surveys in Newdigate
The best arboricultural input is coordinated with the design rather than added afterwards. Crowns, Root Protection Areas, access, levels, services and construction space can all influence whether the proposal works comfortably with retained trees.
Send the plans plus any Mole Valley wording you already have. If the design is still flexible, we can use the survey/constraints information to help the architect. If permission is already in place, we can concentrate on the condition and site-protection side instead.
Keep the tree information on the architect’s live drawing, not in a separate universe. If the footprint, levels, access or services change, we want the tree assessment checked against that same revision before it goes in.
On many Newdigate projects the biggest tree issue is not the building. It can be the driveway, parking, drainage, levels, scaffolding or the route the contractor needs to use during construction. Those parts of the scheme belong in the arboricultural review too.
TPO and conservation-area controls sit alongside the BS5837 development process. If either applies to the Newdigate site, tell us. Tree quality under BS5837 and legal protection are different issues and should not be blurred together.
Old report, old condition, new architect? Send all of it. We can usually separate what remains useful from what is superseded and explain the shortest sensible route forward.
If the council has asked for tree information, send the exact wording.
A request for a “tree report” does not always mean the same document. At the early design stage it may mean a BS5837 Tree Survey and Tree Constraints Plan. Once a planning layout exists, the missing piece may be an Arboricultural Impact Assessment. After permission, the authority may be asking for an Arboricultural Method Statement, Tree Protection Plan or supervision before work starts.
You do not need to make that decision yourself. Forward the email, validation request, tree-officer comment or planning condition and include the current drawings. We will review what is already available and explain the next useful step before you instruct.








