Arboricultural Method Statement (AMS)
An Arboricultural Method Statement is a written document produced alongside the Arboricultural Impact Assessment and Tree Protection Plan as part of your BS5837 planning submission. It sets out in clear, step-by-step terms exactly how tree protection measures will be implemented on site during construction, and how any works taking place near retained trees will be carried out without causing damage.
Urban Tree Management produces Arboricultural Method Statements for developers, architects, and homeowners across Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire, and the wider North West.
What is an Arboricultural Method Statement ?
An Arboricultural Method Statement is often a requirement of planning permission on sites containing trees. Where the Arboricultural Impact Assessment identifies impacts and the Tree Protection Plan shows them on a drawing, the AMS translates both into a practical, written guide for the people actually carrying out the works on site. It details the sequence of tree protection activities, the standards to which works must be carried out, and the specific measures to be taken at each stage of the construction programme.
The document is written in plain, accessible language so that contractors, groundworkers, and site managers can read, understand, and sign it before works begin. Every operative working within or near tree protection zones should have access to the AMS and confirm they have read it — this significantly reduces the risk of accidental tree damage during construction and demonstrates to the local authority that tree protection is being actively managed on site.
Discharging Your Planning Condition
Most people arrive at this page because a planning condition requires an approved method statement before work can start — and work cannot start until it is approved.
A tree condition typically requires three things: an approved method statement and tree protection plan submitted and agreed before commencement, implementation of the approved measures on site, and evidence that the works were supervised. Missing any one of them leaves the condition undischarged.
An undischarged condition is not an administrative detail. It can hold up building control sign-off, complicate a sale, and where the condition is worded as pre-commencement, starting work without it can mean the permission has not been lawfully implemented. Send us the condition wording and the approved drawings and we will tell you exactly what is required.
Arboricultural Method Statements Under the New Draft BS5837
The Arboricultural Method Statement remains a core requirement under the new draft. The new draft introduces a formal Permit to Work concept — requiring that all works within or adjacent to root protection areas are authorised by a qualified arboriculturist before they are carried out. Urban Tree Management's method statements already incorporate this approach as standard practice.
What an AMS Covers
A well-produced Arboricultural Method Statement covers the full scope of construction activity that could affect retained trees:
- Installation, position and maintenance of tree protection fencing
- Ground protection measures where activity within root protection areas is unavoidable
- Specification and supervision of facilitation pruning required before construction begins
- Methods for excavation near tree roots, including hand digging and air-spade excavation
- Routing of underground services away from root systems, or thrust boring beneath them
- Handling and storage of soils and materials near retained trees
- Siting of welfare, storage, mixing and vehicle movement areas
- Written specification to accompany the engineer's design where specialist construction is required — no-dig surfaces, suspended slabs, or mini-pile foundations
- The sequence of operations and who authorises each stage
Local Authority Inspections
Once planning permission is granted with tree protection conditions, the local planning authority has the right to inspect the site at any point during construction to verify that the AMS is being followed. A clearly written, comprehensive method statement that site operatives have signed and understood is the most effective way to demonstrate compliance during these visits and to avoid enforcement action, stop notices, or conditions being imposed on future applications.
Urban Tree Management remains available throughout the construction phase to answer queries from contractors and to liaise directly with the local authority tree officer if required. Where a condition also requires the works to be supervised, see our site supervision and clerk of works page.
How the AMS Fits Into Your BS5837 Package
The Arboricultural Method Statement is the final document in the BS5837 planning package. The Tree Constraints Plan identifies and maps the constraints. The Arboricultural Impact Assessment assesses the development's effect on trees. The Tree Protection Plan shows the protection measures on a drawing. The AMS then brings everything together in a written format that can be handed to the contractor and used on site from the first day of construction through to completion.
Commissioning all four documents through Urban Tree Management ensures consistency, speed, and a seamless process from feasibility to construction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I start work before the method statement is approved?
Not where the condition is worded as pre-commencement, and most tree conditions are. Starting work in breach of a pre-commencement condition can mean the planning permission has not been lawfully implemented, which is a considerably more serious problem than a delay.
What is the difference between an AMS and a Tree Protection Plan?
The tree protection plan is the drawing — it shows where the fencing goes and where the exclusion zones sit. The method statement is the written document explaining how work near those trees is actually carried out, in what sequence, and to what standard. Most applications require both.
There is already a tree survey from another consultant — can you work from it?
Usually yes. If the survey data is current and adequate, a method statement can be produced from it without repeating the survey, which keeps the cost down. We will tell you if the existing data is not sufficient.
Does the protective fencing have to stay up throughout?
Normally yes, for the duration of construction. Where it must be moved for a specific operation, the method statement sets out how, when, and what protection applies in the interim. Fencing taken down for a delivery and never replaced is the single most common cause of tree damage on construction sites.
Arboricultural Method Statements — Greater Manchester, Lancashire & Cheshire
If a planning condition requires an approved arboricultural method statement before you can start on site, we can produce it. Written for the people who will actually use it, coordinated with your impact assessment and tree protection plan, and produced to the new draft BS5837 approach as standard.
Get in contact with our highly experienced and personable team of arboricultural consultants today, to discuss your requirements and to obtain your zero obligation quotation.
