Tree Surveys in York: Quality Tree Consultancy Work

Authentic Trees and Sections of Woodland

Derived from the Brittonic name ‘eboracum’, meaning ‘place of the yew trees’, York is a city in the North East of England that was founded by the Romans, with a 13^th Century Gothic cathedral and a castle built by William the Conqueror. It is located in an area of fertile arable space called the Vale of York, which is bordered by the Yorkshire Dales, the Pennines, North York Moors and the Yorkshire Wolds, making it a part of England with endless countryside and countless nearby trees.

The city of York is surrounded by a green belt area. Between the trees close to the built environment in the centre and the vast tree stock in the rural surrounding provinces, valuable arboricultural features and green infrastructure appear heavily throughout. The local authorities act accordingly by ensuring that any proposed development in York only goes ahead if trees and other natural assets are considered and unnecessary harm is avoided at all costs unless absolutely necessary.

Whether you are a developer or a tree owner, if trees are likely to impact or be impacted by your development plans, or if trees on your development site may be protected, you will need a tree survey before you can realistically move forward. By investing in the arboricultural advice of tree surveyors who can conduct a tree inspection on the site and provide adequate tree management, issues relating to tree care and tree safety can be analysed while eliminating any concerns that would have otherwise harmed planning applications.

Preserving York’s Landscapes

Maintaining the landscape is the long-term objective of York Environmental Trust (YNET). The trust was established in 1988 by a party of concerned individuals who were worried about the situation of York’s green spaces. YNET’s primary aim is to protect, conserve and enhance the natural environment of York, and their efforts were strengthened by a collaboration with Treemendous York Partnership – a voluntary non-profit group supported by the City of York Council.

Working in collaboration began in 2011 with the aim of bringing together other individuals and organisations that share an interest in preserving and nurturing the area, pushing forward a programme designed to organise tree planting for 50,000 trees in the Greater York area. Other conservation volunteers across North Yorkshire including the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and the Woodland Trust are connected to the YNET, featuring various aims including one to help York with flooding issues, as trees help to absorb water from the ground.

Also known as the North Riding Forest Park, Dalby Forest is located southerly to the North York Moors and contains more than 8,000 acres of woodland. It is home to a number of tree species, including sitka spruce accounting for 30% of the forest’s planted area. In addition, the planted area involves 16% larch and pine trees and 11% beech trees, as well as various areas featuring alder, ash, oak and sycamore. Due to the vast environmental quality throughout the Dalby Forest, the YNET implemented a strategy to help preserve all trees within it.

Alongside the efforts from local conservation groups such as the YNET, the Treemendous York Partnership and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, other parameters are in place to protect trees on a broad scale and certain trees that hold particular importance. Examples include a tree preservation order (TPO) on individual trees and a conservation area around groups of protected trees. While tree preservation orders and conservation areas are common, York also entertains rarer plantation ancient woodland sites (PAWS) to conserve veteran trees and continue the restoration of applicable trees in native woodland.

Categories of Tree Surveys

Numerous different types of British standard tree surveys are available to satisfy certain purposes and meet specific needs, but the common option for planning is the BS5837 tree survey. Throughout a BS5837 assessment, tree consultants will inspect the tree’s health, contribution to biodiversity, expected longevity as part of a form of impact assessment, and even risk management in terms of any potential eventuality such as subsidence risk. After the condition and value of the trees have been decided, they will be given a grading between the categories of A, B, C and U.

It is always hoped that the majority of trees will be retained and entirely avoid any form of intervention, especially if they are considered to be valuable and in good condition. If trees are going to obstruct the development plans and nothing can be changed to avoid them, the arboricultural consultant will either choose to move them elsewhere if they are worth keeping, or destroy them and replace them with the planting of new trees if they possess little value or are a health and safety concern. All of the expert advice will then be detailed at length in the tree survey report.

A tree report is an opportunity for the tree consultant to provide impartial advice to the developer in a way that the local council can overlook every recommendation. At this point, if further tree services would benefit the development, the arboriculturist can opt to advise on arboricultural impact assessments (AIA) arboricultural method statements (AMS), tree protection plans (TPPs) or tree safety surveys. As soon as all of the expert advice and tree work from the tree reports has been followed, confirmation that the planning application can be accepted will be indicated to the local planning authority.

Start Your Tree Survey

In our time, we have worked with a seemingly endless list of developers, tree owners, estate managers, mortgage lenders and more in providing advice and exercising pro-active tree surveys. From a simple BS5837 tree survey to a more advanced arboricultural method statement (AMS) or arboricultural impact assessment (AIA), the tree consultants in the ranks at Arbtech are fully qualified, licenced and trained to help clients with their development project and obtain planning permission.

Not only are our arboricultural consultants professional members of the Arboricultural Association, but with coverage across the country, we are available to visit your site in York or other parts of North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire or the East Riding of Yorkshire. Such knowledge of the area also enables our tree surveyors to understand the local authorities when it comes to meeting requirements regarding tree care and submitting viable tree reports to secure planning permission.

Prior to committing to our arboricultural survey services, you have the option of receiving a free quote to look over. It will be based on the specific details of your development project and site, so in order for that to be accurate, you will need to provide us with as much detail as possible by calling us, emailing us, or visiting our contact page. On a date chosen between you and the schedule of our arboricultural consultants, a tree consultant from our team will attend your site to review all individual trees present as part of the necessary tree surveys and produce a report to support your planning application to the local planning authority.