An outline application usually needs a tree survey and Tree Constraints Plan (often with a preliminary impact assessment) to show trees can be accommodated, while a full application needs a complete Arboricultural Impact Assessment tying every tree to the fixed layout — with the method statement and final protection plan conditioned for after permission on both routes. The documents are the same family; what differs is how much detail is needed at each stage.
Two routes, one purpose
Outline and full planning applications both have to satisfy the same underlying test that BS5837 exists to serve — that trees worth keeping are identified early and designed around, rather than assessed as an afterthought. The difference is how fixed the design is when you apply.
- Full application — the whole scheme is settled. The council needs to see exactly how the proposed layout affects each tree.
- Outline application — you are seeking agreement on the principle of development, with some matters (typically layout, scale, appearance, access, landscaping) reserved for a later "reserved matters" application. The council still needs to be satisfied that the site's trees are a constraint the development can live with.
Understanding this sequence is the key to submitting the right documents at the right time. Get it wrong and you either over-spend on detail too early, or get invalidated for missing information and lose weeks at the registration stage.
The document stack and how it sequences
BS5837 work produces a set of distinct deliverables. Colloquially a "BS5837 survey" means the whole package, but each element is separate and comes into play at a different stage:
| Document | What it does | Typical stage |
|---|---|---|
| Tree survey + schedule | Records every relevant tree: species, dimensions, condition, BS5837 category (U/A/B/C) and calculated Root Protection Area | Pre-design / pre-submission |
| Tree Constraints Plan | Overlays each tree's position, crown spread and RPA onto the site to show developable area | Pre-design / pre-submission |
| Arboricultural Impact Assessment | Assesses the proposed layout against the trees — what is removed, retained, and where conflicts arise | Submitted with the application |
| Tree Protection Plan | Shows protective fencing, exclusion zones and ground protection | With application and/or finalised at discharge |
| Arboricultural Method Statement | The detailed "how" — no-dig construction, foundation design, fencing spec, phasing, supervision | Often a pre-commencement condition |
| Site supervision / monitoring | On-site oversight during construction to ensure the plan is followed | During construction, post-permission |
The mental model: the survey, constraints plan and impact assessment are the pre-permission "can we build this?" documents. The method statement, final protection plan and supervision are the post-permission "prove you'll protect them" documents, discharged as conditions. The Root Protection Area that anchors all of it is a circle of radius 12 times the tree's stem diameter (measured at 1.5 m), capped at 707 m² — the single number most likely to make or break a tight layout.
What an outline application needs
Even though layout may be reserved, an outline application still needs enough arboricultural information to show the trees are a manageable constraint. In practice that means at least a tree survey and Tree Constraints Plan, and frequently a preliminary or illustrative impact assessment, so the council can see a workable scheme is possible without losing high-value trees.
Because the detailed layout comes later, the method statement and final Tree Protection Plan are not usually expected at outline stage — they are conditioned or dealt with at reserved matters. The important discipline is that the tree constraints should shape the eventual layout rather than being assessed after it is fixed. Surveying before the design is set is the whole point of BS5837, and the cheapest route: a Tree Constraints Plan that shows a category A oak's RPA sterilising the north-east corner tells the masterplanner to put the access road elsewhere before a line is drawn.
A worked outline scenario
A developer promotes a 12-unit site fringed by mature trees, several category B, one veteran oak on the boundary carrying an enhanced RPA (15 times stem diameter, or canopy plus 5 m, whichever is larger). At outline they submit a survey, Tree Constraints Plan and an illustrative layout with a preliminary impact assessment showing the veteran oak's buffer kept clear and the developable area reduced to roughly nine units. That is enough for the council to grant outline on the principle, with the detailed unit count and layout reserved. If they had submitted a full method statement now, most of it would be wasted work — the layout it protects does not yet exist.
Reserved matters re-open the trees
After outline permission, landscaping and layout reserved matters commonly bring tree issues straight back to the table. The council can require further arboricultural detail — a fuller impact assessment against the now-detailed layout, and often the method statement and protection plan — before it approves those matters. Do not assume outline approval settles the tree position for good; the tree officer gets a second, more detailed look.
What a full application needs
With the design fixed, a full application must include a complete Arboricultural Impact Assessment mapping the approved layout against every tree: which trees are lost, which are retained, and how construction conflicts — excavation, level changes, incursion into Root Protection Areas, shading pressure on future occupiers — are resolved. A Tree Protection Plan, and often a preliminary method statement, are commonly submitted alongside.
The detailed method statement is still typically left to a pre-commencement condition even for full permission, so a full application is not the end of the arboricultural road — it is the point where the "can we build this?" case must be airtight. Where an RPA incursion is unavoidable (a driveway across a root zone, say), the impact assessment must justify it with an engineered no-dig or cellular-confinement solution, not simply note the conflict — an unjustified incursion is one of the most common reasons a tree officer objects.
The pre-commencement trap
This catches developers on both routes. A method statement and Tree Protection Plan is usually imposed as a pre-commencement condition: "no works shall take place until a detailed Arboricultural Method Statement has been submitted to and approved in writing by the LPA."
That means you can hold full planning permission and still be legally barred from starting — including demolition, site clearance or even bringing machinery on site — until the condition is discharged. Discharging it requires a formal application to discharge conditions (with a fee), and the council commonly takes around eight weeks to respond. Starting before discharge is a breach of condition that can render the whole development unlawful and expose you to enforcement. Build the discharge timeline into your programme: eight weeks between "we have permission" and "we can lawfully break ground" is not unusual, and it is entirely avoidable to be surprised by it.
Requirements are set locally — check your council
Here is the pivot every developer needs to internalise: there is no single national rule dictating exactly which arboricultural documents each stage needs. The compulsion comes from your Local Planning Authority's validation list and from the conditions it attaches — and both differ meaningfully between councils. One authority validates an outline application on a survey and constraints plan; the next insists on a preliminary impact assessment before it will register it. TPO density, Conservation Area coverage, the presence of ancient woodland or veteran trees, and how strict the tree officer is in practice are all local variables that change what "enough" looks like.
So before you commission or submit, confirm the exact validation requirements and expected level of detail with your own authority — for example Leeds, Manchester or Nottingham. PlanWatch tracks live tree-related planning activity per council, so you can see how your authority is handling outline, reserved matters and discharge applications right now, and check your own area from the tree-surveys hub. And keep the national picture in view: this framework is England-centric — Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland run parallel but distinct planning regimes, so the outline/reserved-matters mechanics and terminology differ across the devolved nations.
Getting the timing right
- Do the survey and constraints plan first, before the layout is fixed, so trees shape the design.
- Submit the right level of detail for your route — survey plus constraints (and often a preliminary impact assessment) for outline; a full impact assessment for a full application.
- Confirm your council's specific validation demands — they vary, and a missing document is the single most common cause of invalidation.
- Expect trees to return at reserved matters if you go the outline route.
- Plan for the pre-commencement condition — budget the ~8 weeks and the fee to discharge the method statement before you intend to break ground.
For which documents your specific council expects at validation, see which LPAs require a tree survey and the main tree survey for planning overview. Costs across the document stack are set out in our cost guide; the terminology is untangled in tree survey vs arboricultural survey; and if a protected tree is involved, check its status with the Tree Preservation Order check.