Tree Surveys for Local Authorities & Councils — Greater Manchester, Lancashire & Cheshire
Local authorities manage some of the largest and most complex tree populations of any landowner — street trees, park trees, housing estate trees, highway verge trees, and trees in public open spaces — each carrying significant public safety obligations and generating high volumes of public enquiries.
Urban Tree Management provides tree surveys, risk assessments, and management plans for local authorities and councils across Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire, and the wider North West, delivering programmes that are technically robust and designed to meet the specific governance and reporting requirements of public sector organisations
Public Sector Tree Risk Management
Local authorities have a legal duty of care to ensure that trees on land they own or manage do not pose an unacceptable risk to the public. A well-documented, regularly reviewed tree inspection programme is essential both to meet this duty and to defend against claims where incidents occur. For full details of our tree inspection methodology and the QTRA risk assessment process we use on local authority sites.
Street Tree Surveys
Street trees present particular management challenges — physical damage from vehicles and utilities, constrained growing environments, and high public visibility generating significant reactive enquiries. Urban Tree Management carries out street tree surveys for local authority highways and environment teams, recording tree condition, identifying defects and management requirements, and producing outputs compatible with your asset management system.
Parks & Open Spaces
Parks and public open spaces contain some of the most significant trees in the local authority portfolio — large, mature, often veteran trees that are both high-value amenity assets and, in some cases, elevated risk given the volume of public use. Where decay investigation is required to assess the structural integrity of a significant tree before a management decision is made, we carry out specialist investigations using sonic tomography and Resistograph resistance drilling.
Tree Management Plans
Beyond individual site surveys, Urban Tree Management produces strategic tree management plans for local authorities seeking to manage their entire tree population on a planned, cyclical basis — identifying current condition, establishing inspection frequencies, setting out a works programming framework, and providing the evidence base for budget planning and resource allocation.
Working Within Public Sector Frameworks
Urban Tree Management is experienced in working within local authority procurement frameworks, responding to tender requirements, and delivering to public sector reporting standards and timescales. We are happy to discuss framework agreements for ongoing survey and inspection work.