A planning-grade arboricultural report walks the reader from a plain-language summary, through the survey methodology and a tree-by-tree schedule, to a constraints plan and — where a design exists — an impact assessment, ending in clear recommendations and protection measures. Once you know what each section is doing, the document is far less intimidating than it looks.
If you've just been handed a thirty-page arboricultural report, or you're about to commission one and want to know what you're paying for, this annotated walkthrough takes you through a typical (anonymised) planning report section by section. The structure below is representative — house styles vary — but the building blocks are consistent, because they all trace back to BS5837:2012, the British Standard that governs trees in relation to design, demolition and construction.
Section 1 — Introduction and scope
The opening pages set out who commissioned the report, the site address, the purpose (for example, "to support a full planning application for two dwellings"), and the scope: which trees were assessed and why. A good report states plainly that it follows BS5837:2012 and, importantly, notes its own limitations — for instance that it is a visual survey from ground level, not a detailed decay investigation involving climbing inspection or internal decay detection.
What to check: the purpose matches your actual application, and off-site trees whose canopies or root protection areas cross the boundary are included. Ignoring neighbouring trees is a classic reason applications hit trouble.
Section 2 — Methodology
A short section explaining how the survey was done: measured from ground level, stem diameters taken at 1.5m above ground, crown spreads measured in four cardinal directions, condition assessed visually. It should name the standard (BS5837:2012) and the surveyor's qualifications.
There is no legal licence to be an arboriculturist and no statutory register you must appear on — BS5837 simply asks for someone "suitably qualified and experienced". In practice that means a degree or equivalent (N/SVQ Level 5) in arboriculture and at least three years' relevant recent experience. This is where you look for weight: an Arboricultural Association Registered Consultant or an ICF Chartered Arboriculturist carries the most credibility with a tree officer, because anyone can call themselves an "arborist" — the accreditations are the differentiator.
Section 3 — The tree survey schedule (the heart of the report)
This is the big table. Every relevant tree gets one row and a reference number (T1, T2, G1 for a group, W1 for a woodland) that matches both a physical tag on site and a point on the plan. A representative row reads like this:
| Ref | Species | Height (m) | Stem dia. (mm) | Crown spread N/E/S/W (m) | Age | Condition | Life expectancy | Category | RPA radius (m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Oak | 18 | 650 | 8 / 9 / 7 / 8 | Mature | Good | 40+ yrs | A2 | 7.8 |
| T4 | Sycamore | 12 | 300 | 4 / 5 / 4 / 5 | Semi-mature | Fair | 20+ yrs | B1 | 3.6 |
| T9 | Elder | 5 | 120 | 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 | Young | Poor, decayed | <10 yrs | U | — |
Read across any row and the story is clear. Read the category column and you know how much each tree constrains the site:
- A — high quality, an estimated 40+ years' contribution. A serious constraint; removing one needs strong justification.
- B — moderate quality, 20+ years. Retention desirable; may have remediable defects.
- C — low quality, 10+ years, or young stems under 150mm. A minor constraint.
- U — unsuitable for retention: dead, dying, dangerous, or so defective it would be expected to be lost within about ten years. (Note: it's U, never "Category R" — that's outdated 2005-edition terminology. If a report uses "Category R" it is working from a superseded standard, which is a red flag.)
The subcategory number tells you why a tree has value — 1 mainly arboricultural, 2 mainly landscape, 3 mainly cultural (including conservation). So "A2" is a high-quality tree valued for its landscape contribution.
The RPA column is the one that shapes the design. It's calculated as 12 × stem diameter — so T1's 650mm stem gives a radius of 12 × 0.65 = 7.8m. That circle is effectively a no-build zone unless a special engineered solution is justified. Our BS5837:2012 standard requirements guide explains the formula in full, including the 707m² cap for very large trees (roughly a 15m-radius circle, kicking in above about a 1.25m stem) and the enhanced 15× figure for veteran and ancient trees.
Section 4 — The Tree Constraints Plan
A scaled drawing showing every tree's position, crown spread and RPA overlaid on the site. This is where the schedule becomes visual: you can see at a glance which parts of the site are unbuildable because they fall inside an RPA. Categories are usually colour-coded on the plan by convention — green for A, blue for B, grey for C, and U often shown in dark red. Where an arboriculturist judges that rooting is asymmetric (constrained by an existing building or road, for example), the RPA may be re-plotted as a polygon of the same area rather than a perfect circle. Done before a layout exists, this plan is what lets the trees shape the design rather than the other way round.
Section 5 — The Arboricultural Impact Assessment
Where a layout has been designed, the report continues into an Arboricultural Impact Assessment. This section tests the proposed scheme against the trees: which trees are removed, which are retained, where construction conflicts arise (excavations, level changes, RPA incursions, service runs), and how future shading might affect new occupiers. Expect a reasoned justification for every removal — a tree officer will scrutinise these closely, and a category A tree removed for convenience rather than necessity is exactly the kind of thing that draws a refusal.
Section 6 — Recommendations, protection and appendices
The closing sections set out protective measures and next steps: a preliminary Tree Protection Plan showing barrier fencing, construction exclusion zones and ground protection, and often a note that a detailed Arboricultural Method Statement will follow as a pre-commencement condition. Appendices carry the raw schedule, the plans at full scale, and photographs. It is worth understanding this sequencing: the survey, constraints plan and impact assessment are the pre-permission "can we build this?" documents; the detailed method statement and final protection plan are the post-permission "prove you'll protect them" documents, discharged as conditions before any works — including demolition or site clearance — may lawfully begin.
Reading a report critically
A few things separate a robust report from a thin one the tree officer will reject:
- Every tree categorised — no blanks in the category column.
- Off-site trees included where their RPAs reach the site.
- Removals justified individually, not waved through.
- Protected status flagged — any Tree Preservation Order or conservation-area tree must be identified. Check the tree preservation order status before you rely on being able to remove anything; consent for protected trees is a separate, criminal-law-backed regime, not something planning permission alone unlocks.
Requirements are set locally — check your council
Although the structure of an arboricultural report is broadly uniform across the country because it follows BS5837:2012, what a report must contain to get your application validated, and how strictly it is judged, is set locally. Each local planning authority publishes its own validation list, and tree officers differ in how much detail they expect and how sceptically they read a schedule. One council may accept a survey and impact assessment at submission and condition the rest; another may demand the full package — survey, constraints plan, impact assessment, protection plan and preliminary method statement — up front.
Local context also changes what the report has to grapple with: the density of Tree Preservation Orders, the extent of conservation areas, and the presence of nearby ancient woodland or veteran trees all raise the bar. Compare, for example, how tree issues surface in Bristol, Manchester and Nottingham — each authority sets its own detail. PlanWatch tracks live tree-related planning activity council by council, so you can see how tree matters are actually being handled where your site sits, and check whether the trees around you already appear in local applications. Before relying on any report, confirm your own authority's validation requirements.
Next steps
To understand how this report fits into the wider set of documents your application needs, see the five outputs of a BS5837 survey. For scoping and pricing, our BS5837 tree survey, tree survey cost and arboricultural impact assessment cost guides cover what to commission and what to pay.
This example reflects England practice under BS5837:2012 and the England planning regime. Report structure is broadly similar UK-wide, but statutory tree protection differs in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is general information, not legal advice.