Tree Surveys in Kent
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Tree surveys and arboricultural reports for planning applications, tree safety and property purchases across Kent.
If a planning officer, architect or validation checklist has asked you for a tree survey, a BS5837 survey is usually what's meant. We produce the full set of arboricultural reports for sites across Kent: the survey and Tree Constraints Plan, the Arboricultural Impact Assessment, and the Method Statement and Tree Protection Plan that commonly follows as a condition. Send us the site address and we’ll tell you what your project is likely to need, with a free fixed-fee quote, usually within 12 hours.
Kent is a wooded county
Two National Landscapes cover a large part of Kent, and both are defined by their trees.
The Kent Downs, running along the North Downs through the north and east of the county, is over 20% woodland (17,579 hectares), the second largest land use after farming. Its lowland beech and yew woodland is described as being of European significance, and sweet chestnut coppice and hazel are everywhere. The heaviest concentrations sit on the Greensand Ridge between Sevenoaks and Tonbridge, along the chalk escarpment in west Kent, across the mid Kent Downs, above the Stour Valley and on the east Kent plateaux.
The High Weald, covering the south-west, has almost 28% woodland cover, more than any other National Landscape in England and Wales.
This isn't only a rural picture. Kent's towns grew up inside those landscapes and kept a great deal of them, so a garden in Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks or Canterbury will often hold trees that would be remarkable somewhere else.
And one thing catches people out more than anything: on most Kent sites, the trees influencing your project aren't all yours. The neighbour's beech, the boundary hedgerow, the woodland behind the fence all count. A BS5837 survey covers trees on adjoining land wherever they're close enough to be affected by your development.
Large gardens with mature specimen trees
A common situation we find in Kent: a substantial house, a generous garden, and several very large trees that have been there far longer than the extension you're planning. A single mature cedar or copper beech can have a Root Protection Area covering most of a rear garden. It usually reaches further out than people expect.
In some parts of Kent, the trees and the planted gaps between houses are what give an area its character, and councils protect that. Tunbridge Wells calls these "Arcadian Areas" in its Local Plan (Policy EN17). They're leafy, low-density streets of large houses set well apart, with hedges and trees along most boundaries. You can still build, but the council will look more closely at what your plans do to the trees and the spacing. Other Kent councils have their own versions.
Tighter town plots
On tighter urban plots, Root Protection Areas and canopies frequently sit close to or over the proposed building. A survey plots both, above ground and below, so you know what you're working with.
That cuts both ways. It shows what constrains the layout, and it shows which trees can be retained and incorporated into the scheme, which matters because planning policy favours keeping trees of higher value over removing them.
Two things to establish early on any town plot: whether the site sits in a Conservation Area, and whether any tree is covered by a Tree Preservation Order. Both are checked as part of the survey.
Professional arboricultural advice
Flow Tree Consultancy is an independent arboricultural consultancy. The same qualified consultant quotes the job, carries out the site visit and writes the report, so you deal directly with the person doing the work from first enquiry to final issue.
The consultancy is led by a qualified arboricultural consultant with:
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a First Class BSc (Hons) in Arboriculture and Urban Forestry
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a Level 3 Extended Diploma in Arboriculture and Forestry
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Professional Membership of the Arboricultural Association
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LANTRA Professional Tree Inspector certification
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VALID Tree Risk-Benefit Validator status
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a decade of industry experience across planning and development, mortgage and insurance work, tree safety assessments and practical arboriculture
We carry £1 million professional indemnity insurance and £5 million public liability insurance.
You can read more about our qualifications, experience and approach on the About page
Not sure which report you need?
Most people arrive having been told they need "a tree survey" without being told which one.
Send us the site address and any plans, and we'll come back quickly with what your application is likely to need.
Where we work in Kent
We cover the whole county, with a concentration in the TN postcodes. That's Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Sevenoaks, Edenbridge, Cranbrook and the surrounding villages. They run across the county boundary into East Sussex, which we cover too.
Kent has thirteen local planning authorities. Twelve are district and borough councils, and Medway is a unitary authority. Arboricultural requirements are broadly similar across them, since BS5837:2012 is a national standard, but what's asked for at validation and what's conditioned after approval can vary. Your LPA decides what your application needs, so send us any comments or validation requirements you've been given and we'll tell you what they're asking for.
Tree condition and risk assessments in Kent
The same wooded character creates a different problem for anyone responsible for land rather than developing it. Large mature trees over drives, footpaths, parking, outbuildings and boundaries mean estates, schools, commercial sites and larger properties in Kent often carry a significant duty of care..
provide tree condition and risk assessments for individual trees and larger tree stocks. The advice is proportionate and independent: we don’t carry out tree work, so we have no works to sell.
For property purchases and lender queries, we also provide mortgage and pre-purchase tree reports, including subsidence and heave risk assessments where trees sit close to a building.
Our tree surveys and reports in Kent
If there are trees on or near a site you plan to build on, your council will usually expect tree information with the planning application. We carry out the BS5837 tree survey and write the reports that follow it: the Tree Constraints Plan, Arboricultural Impact Assessment, Arboricultural Method Statement and Tree Protection Plan. During construction, we can also provide arboricultural supervision.
Read more about our planning and development services.
For homeowners, schools, estates and anyone responsible for trees on their land, from a single tree to a whole site. A tree condition and risk assessment identifies the trees that need attention, the risk they pose and any work required, so you can meet your duty of care without removing trees unnecessarily.
Read more about our tree condition and risk assessments.
If you're buying a property with trees nearby, your lender or surveyor may ask for a tree report before the purchase goes ahead. Our mortgage and pre-purchase tree reports identify the trees within influencing distance of the building and what they mean for it. We also carry out subsidence and heave risk assessments for existing homeowners.
Read more about our mortgage tree reports and property risk.
FAQs
Not usually, but it shapes it. A mature specimen's Root Protection Area often covers far more ground than people expect, which can alter the layout, the design and how the works are carried out. The survey plots it, which is what lets a design work with the tree rather than around a guess.
It's a Tunbridge Wells Borough designation (Policy EN17) covering low-density residential areas where mature trees, landscaped gaps and hedge-and-tree boundaries define the character. Development there is judged against more prescriptive criteria. Your planning officer or the council's policies map will confirm whether a property falls within one. Other Kent authorities have their own equivalents.
A TPO doesn't in itself prevent development. It tells you the local planning authority considers the tree to have amenity value worth protecting, so retention is usually the expectation — which makes designing with it from the outset the straightforward route. The survey establishes where its Root Protection Area and canopy actually fall, which is what makes that possible.
If they're close enough to be affected by your development, or to constrain it, then yes. On Kent plots that's frequently the case — boundary and off-site trees are a normal part of a BS5837 survey.
Not much, in practice. Arboricultural requirements are broadly similar across the county — BS5837:2012 is a national standard, so the survey itself is the same wherever the site is. What can vary is what each authority asks for at validation and what it conditions after approval. Send us the wording you've been given and we'll tell you what it covers.
Often it's the first of several documents. Applications frequently go on to need an impact assessment, and a method statement is commonly conditioned after approval. Send us the exact wording and we'll tell you what it's likely to cover.