BS5837 Tree Survey for Residential Development — Bolton

THE CHALLENGE:

A property developer proposing a new residential development on a site in Bolton required a full BS5837 arboricultural planning package to support their planning application to Bolton Council.

The site contained a mix of mature boundary trees, hedgerows, and self-seeded scrub on former brownfield land — several of the boundary trees were of significant amenity value to the neighbouring residential properties and were likely to be subject to close scrutiny from Bolton Council's tree officers. The developer needed a survey and planning package that accurately identified the constraints posed by the tree stock, gave the design team the information needed to optimise the site layout, and met Bolton Council's validation requirements without delay.

OUR ROLE:

Urban Tree Management carried out the BS5837 tree survey and hedgerow survey across the site, recording all trees and hedgerows and producing the initial Tree Constraints Plan in AutoCAD. Working directly with the architect and planning consultant, we advised on the positioning of buildings, access roads, and parking areas to minimise root protection area incursions and avoid the most significant tree constraints — allowing the site layout to be refined before the planning application was submitted rather than after.

The full BS5837 planning package was then produced — Arboricultural Impact Assessment, Tree Protection Plan, and Arboricultural Method Statement — meeting Bolton Council's validation requirements.

THE OUTCOME:

Planning permission was granted with the arboricultural documents accepted by Bolton Council without requests for additional information.

The early design stage involvement of Urban Tree Management — advising on layout optimisation before the application was submitted — significantly reduced the level of arboricultural impact on the site and the risk of onerous planning conditions, demonstrating the commercial value of engaging an arboricultural consultant at the feasibility stage rather than after the design is fixed