Tree Surveys & Reports
If you own or manage land with trees on it, you owe a duty of care to everyone those trees could affect. A written survey is how you evidence it. We survey, assess, and report on tree stock across Gloucestershire, and deliver the works the reports recommend.
Survey to Works, One Contractor
What We Do
A tree survey is a documented assessment of trees on a site: what’s there, what condition it’s in, what risk it presents, and what work it needs. For organisations and landowners, surveys aren’t optional housekeeping. Under the Occupiers’ Liability Acts and general duty of care, the owner of land is responsible for foreseeable harm from their trees, and “we never looked” is not a defence. Silver Tree Services carries out tree surveys, risk assessments, and reports across Gloucestershire and surrounding counties, and because we’re also a 30-plus person arboricultural contractor, the recommendations don’t sit in a PDF: we can price and deliver the works on the same schedule.
Surveys we provide
- Tree condition surveys. A systematic inspection of tree stock recording species, dimensions, condition, defects, and recommended works with priorities and timescales. The foundation document for managing trees across any site or portfolio.
- Tree risk assessments. Formal written assessments of the risk individual trees pose to people and property, using recognised methodologies, with proportionate recommendations. The document your insurer and your duty of care both want to see.
- Tree health checks. Single-tree or small-group inspections where a specific concern has arisen: dieback in the crown, fungal brackets, storm damage, subsidence queries, or a neighbour's complaint.
- BS5837 tree surveys for planning. Surveys to BS5837:2012 for development sites, recording category gradings, root protection areas, and constraints, feeding into tree protection plans and arboricultural impact assessments your planning application needs.
- TPO and conservation area guidance. Checking protection status, advising on what consent is needed, and preparing and submitting applications to the local planning authority on your behalf.
What you receive
A written report in plain English with a defensible technical core: tree schedule, plan or tagged locations, photographs of significant defects, prioritised work recommendations, and recommended re-inspection intervals. Alongside the written report you also get a live interactive version through our software, so the record stays current between inspections: as work is completed on a surveyed tree the status updates in real time, and you can see exactly what has been done and what is outstanding without waiting for a revised document.
Reports are produced under our ISO 9001 quality management system, so the format is consistent, version-controlled, and stands up to scrutiny from insurers, auditors, and planning officers.
Survey to works, one accountable contractor
Most survey providers hand you a report and a problem. We hand you a report and a priced works schedule. Recommendations flow straight into our commercial arboriculture teams, programmed around access, seasons, and nesting constraints, with stump grinding and replanting included where specified. For ongoing clients, we’ll build the re-inspection cycle into your grounds maintenance or estate management contract so the duty of care runs on a calendar, not on memory.
(If you’d prefer survey and works to be separated for governance reasons, that’s fine too. Some public sector clients require it, and the report is written to be actionable by any competent contractor.)
Why choose Silver Tree Services
Silver Tree Services has traded for over 20 years from Shurdington, Cheltenham, with 30+ qualified staff across seven specialist teams, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification, ARB Approved Contractor status, and SMAS SSIP accreditation. Crews are NPTC-certificated with IPAF and CSCS where work requires it, RAMS are produced per site, DBS-checked operatives are available for sensitive settings, and public and employers’ liability insurance covers every job. The client list, NHS, Gloucestershire Police, Stroud District Council, Savills, the Church of England, is the vetting evidence.
Areas we cover
Tree surverys across Gloucestershire, including Cheltenham, Gloucester, Stroud, Tewkesbury, Cirencester, and the Cotswolds, with commercial work across Bristol, Bath, Swindon, and surrounding counties.
Pricing
Surveys are priced by tree numbers, site complexity, and report requirements. A single-tree health check is a modest fixed fee; a portfolio condition survey is priced per site after a scoping call. All quotes are free and itemised.
Frequently Asked Questions About Tree Surveys
Frequently asked.
Do I legally need a tree survey?
While there is no single blanket law dictating tree surveys, local councils, parish councils, and private landowners all share a strict duty of care under the Occupiers’ Liability Acts 1957 and 1984. To protect the public from foreseeable harm, councils and parishes must implement a regular, written tree survey regime—the universally accepted standard to prove this legal duty has been fulfilled. Furthermore, for any development projects, local planning authorities routinely demand a BS5837 tree survey alongside the application. Silver Tree Services delivers both risk-management and BS5837 surveys across Gloucestershire and surrounding counties, providing robust reports designed to withstand the highest levels of insurer and planning scrutiny.
How often should trees on a commercial site be surveyed?
Inspection frequency is risk-based rather than fixed. For most managed sites, a full condition survey every one to three years is proportionate, with high-use areas such as car parks, play areas, entrances and footpath lines at the shorter end, and low-occupancy areas such as woodland and far-field boundaries at three to five years. This is supplemented by interim walkover inspections, the duty holder’s own informal observations, and a reactive check after significant storms. Silver Tree Services sets a recommended re-inspection interval for every tree or zone in the report, in line with NTSG guidance, and can build the cycle into an ongoing maintenance contract so it happens automatically.
What is a BS5837 tree survey?
A BS5837 survey is a tree survey carried out to British Standard BS5837:2012 for sites where development or construction is proposed. It records every relevant tree’s species, dimensions, condition, and quality category, and establishes root protection areas, feeding into the tree protection plan and arboricultural impact assessment a planning application requires. If you’re submitting a planning application on a site with trees nearby, your authority will almost certainly ask for one. Silver Tree Services provides BS5837 surveys across Gloucestershire.
What does a tree risk assessment involve?
A tree risk assessment is a formal, written evaluation of the likelihood of a tree failing, the likelihood of that failure causing harm given who and what is nearby, and the severity if it did, leading to proportionate recommendations. It is not a presumption that trees are dangerous; most assessments conclude that monitoring is enough. Silver Tree Services carries out risk assessments using recognised methodologies and presents findings in plain English with a prioritised works schedule where action is needed.
Can you do the tree work your survey recommends?
Yes, and it’s the main reason clients choose us over survey-only consultancies. Silver Tree Services is a 30-plus person arboricultural contractor, so survey recommendations move straight to a priced works schedule delivered by our own NPTC-qualified teams to BS3998:2010, programmed around nesting season and site constraints. Where governance requires survey and works to be separated, our reports are written to be actioned by any competent contractor.
My tree might have a TPO. Can you check and apply for consent?
Yes. Silver Tree Services checks Tree Preservation Order and conservation area status with the local planning authority before any work is specified, and prepares and submits the consent application on your behalf where one is needed. Working on a TPO-protected tree without consent is a criminal offence with fines per tree, so the check is never skipped. Most applications are decided within eight weeks, and we programme the works to follow consent.
Ready When You Are
Duty of care,
documented.
Tell us about the site and what’s prompted the survey, and we’ll scope it, price it, and book it in.
Or call · 01242 472560