Tree Surveys Across Birmingham & the Midlands
Urban Tree Management now covers the East and West Midlands with a locally based surveyor — Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Coventry and the surrounding counties, most sites inside an hour.
Whatever has brought you here, it is usually one of the situations below.
Trees are holding up my planning application
The authority has asked for an arboricultural report and the application will not be validated without it. Or the tree officer has raised an objection and the scheme is stalled.
Either way, what is needed is a BS5837 tree survey and whatever follows from it — constraints plan, impact assessment, protection plan, method statement — produced to a standard the tree officer accepts first time. Across Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Coventry the conservation area coverage is heavy and the scrutiny is real, so the evidence has to be right.
If the layout is not yet fixed, the survey should come before it. Constraints found early get designed around; constraints found after submission get designed out of, at cost. A
feasibility appraisal before purchase or design is cheaper still.
I'm responsible for trees and I've no records
A school, a care home, a housing estate, a commercial site, an estate — trees on it, people under them, and nothing in writing about their condition. The duty of care is there whether or not it has been managed.
A tree condition survey establishes what you have and what state it is in. A hazard evaluation goes further — which trees, or parts of trees, could cause harm, and how much risk each one actually presents, quantified so it can be managed proportionately rather than by felling everything that looks doubtful.
Across a large or multi-site estate the work is zoned by occupancy, so effort goes where people are and the written rationale explains why the far field is inspected less often than the car park. That rationale is what stands up afterwards. Where the estate needs ongoing cover, a retained programme keeps every site on a tracked cycle.
Where ash dieback is present — and across the Midlands it is — the assessment identifies which trees genuinely need action, which can be monitored, and which can be left.
A lender or surveyor has flagged a tree
The mortgage is waiting on a report. Usually the concern is subsidence — shrinkable clay under much of the Midlands, a tree of some water demand close to the house, and a valuer who is not an arboriculturist and cannot say whether it matters.
The mortgage tree report answers that. Species, mature height, distance, soil, foundations, and a clear conclusion the lender can act on. Most conclude no action is needed. Where something genuine is found, there are usually options short of removal.
Where a property is already showing movement, a subsidence investigation establishes whether the tree is actually responsible — and where roots are lifting a drive or blocking a drain, a root damage report establishes which tree and what can be done.
I want to work on a tree that's protected
Or you are not sure whether it is. Edgbaston, The Park Estate, Darley Abbey, Earlsdon, Clarendon Park — the Midlands cities carry dense TPO and conservation area coverage, and the council will not consent to works on assertion alone.
An application supported by arboricultural evidence — the tree's condition, the defect, why the works proposed are the minimum necessary — succeeds far more often than one that simply says the tree is too big. We prepare that evidence, and we advise on the consent position before you commit to anything.
Where the tree is on a boundary and the question is what you can and cannot do to a neighbour's tree, see boundary and neighbour disputes.
Someone says the tree has to come down and I'm not sure
A contractor has recommended felling. A neighbour is worried. A tree officer has queried a retention. And the tree is valuable enough that getting it wrong matters
.
This is where a visual opinion is not enough. Urban Tree Management holds the full diagnostic suite in-house — Arbotom sonic tomography, Rinntech Resistograph R650, structural strength analysis, wind load modelling and root plate mapping — and it travels to Midlands sites. The instruments establish what is actually inside the tree and how much capacity remains, so the decision is made on evidence rather than caution.
Very few consultancies anywhere hold this capability without subcontracting it. Other practices subcontract theirs to us. Where the tree is a veteran or ancient specimen, that evidence is what allows retention to be justified.
I need this done and I need it independent
Every Midlands survey is delivered under Urban Tree Management NW Ltd, reviewed and issued by the practice, and covered by the same professional indemnity and public liability insurance as all our work.
We carry out no tree works. We have no connection to any contractor. The recommendation is the recommendation, and what happens next is your decision.
The surveyor attending site holds LANTRA Professional Tree Inspection, QTRA registration, and Enhanced DBS clearance. What a Midlands base changes is proximity — short-notice attendance without the travel from Bolton.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which parts of the Midlands do you cover?
Birmingham and the West Midlands, Coventry and Warwickshire, Leicester and Leicestershire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, Derby and Derbyshire, and the surrounding districts.
Are Midlands surveys carried out by Urban Tree Management?
Yes — delivered for and issued by Urban Tree Management NW Ltd, to the same standard and under the same insurance as all our work.
Can the diagnostic equipment come to a Midlands site?
Yes. It is mobile and travels wherever the tree warrants it.
How much does a tree survey cost?
Fixed fee, quoted in advance, typically within two hours during working hours. No site visit needed to quote.
Not sure which survey you need? See our guide → Which Tree Survey Do I Need?
Tree Surveys — Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby & Coventry
Whichever of the situations above is yours, send us the site address and a sentence about it. That is usually enough for a fixed fee, and there is no charge for asking.
