Red-brick Queen Anne style houses on Marlborough Crescent in Bedford Park with white sash windows and tall chimneys — Photograph: stevecadman (CC BY-SA 2.0)

01Specialist reports

Tree surveys for London planning applications

A London garden is full of trees that are not yours alone: protected ones, neighbours' ones, ones in a conservation area. If your extension or basement is close to one, the council wants a tree survey. We record the trees, mark the roots and fit the design around them. From £485, fixed before we start.

From £485

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Our fee for tree survey: from £485, no VAT to add. Covered in full, with its own guide and fee, at propertyarchitecture.co.uk.

02The fee

One fixed fee, published

Tree survey

from £485

The total you pay. No VAT to add.

Ask for your fixed fee

What you get

A visit to record every tree that could affect, or be affected by, the works
Each tree's species, size, condition and category, plotted on a plan
Root protection areas drawn to scale, so you can see where building can and cannot go
A written note of how the design avoids harm, and how trees are protected during building
A report in the form the council asks for, ready to upload with your application

A householder survey covers up to the number of trees stated in the quote; a larger garden is confirmed in writing. There is no council fee for work to a protected tree, and our fee carries no VAT to add.

03How it runs

From a garden of trees to a scheme that fits

The root zone, not the canopy, decides where you can build.

Rear view of brick terraced houses in London with slate roofs and chimney stacks along the shared roofline — Photograph: Ben Hadfield

04Specialist reports

Which trees the law protects

A tree can be protected by a tree preservation order, or by standing in a conservation area. Cutting down, uprooting or wilfully destroying a protected tree is an offence, and the court must weigh any financial benefit from the offence when it sets the fine.

In a conservation area you must give the council six weeks' notice before carrying out certain work on a tree. No fee is charged for an application for works to a protected tree or for the notice, which is why many owners simply ask. Westminster alone has 685 tree preservation orders on record, and Kensington and Chelsea 4,560.

A narrow period house on Heath Street in Hampstead with a bay window, pale green render and a small front garden — A Hampstead front garden: a mature tree here is likely to be protected twice over, by order and by area.Photograph: Images George Rex, CC BY-SA 2.0

05Specialist reports

The root zone is the real constraint

A foundation, a trench or a new patio inside a tree's root zone can kill it without a branch being touched. The survey plots each tree's root protection area, and the design is drawn to keep structure outside it, or to use piling or a raised slab where that is not possible.

If a tree has to go, the report says why and proposes replacement, which is what the council will expect. Where a tree stands on a neighbour's land, we record it too, because its roots do not stop at the boundary. The next step is usually your planning drawings or a basement, where roots matter most.

Council fee position from the national fee table, April 2026.

06Specialist reports

Protecting trees while the builder works

A good survey ends with a protection plan: fencing set at the edge of the root zone, a note on where materials may be stored and a rule that nothing is dug inside it without a word with the arborist. Your builder prices it at tender and the council can attach it as a condition.

We write it so the builder can follow it on site, and we draw the fence line on the plan. If the condition is imposed, our discharge of planning conditions service clears it.

Brick period houses on Downshire Hill in Hampstead, with sash windows and a front garden wall — Downshire Hill: mature planting is part of the setting that conservation officers protect.Photograph: Images George Rex, CC BY-SA 2.0

07The record

Figures that shape the job

6 weeks
Notice to give the council before certain work on a tree in a conservation area.
Source: Planning Practice Guidance, Tree preservation orders and trees in conservation areas, paragraph 116, checked 25 Oct 2026
£0
Works to a tree under a preservation order, or in a conservation area, have no application fee.
Source: Ribble Valley Borough Council, national fee table from 1 April 2026, checked 25 Oct 2026
Fine
Cutting down or wilfully destroying a protected tree is an offence, and the court weighs any financial benefit in setting the fine.
Source: Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 210, checked 25 Oct 2026
685
Tree preservation orders recorded by Westminster City Council.
Source: planning.data.gov.uk, tree preservation orders dataset, checked 17 Oct 2026
4,560
Tree preservation orders recorded by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
Source: planning.data.gov.uk, tree preservation orders dataset, checked 17 Oct 2026
39
Conservation areas, each of which protects its trees, published by Kensington and Chelsea.
Source: planning.data.gov.uk, conservation areas dataset, checked 7 Oct 2026

08Questions

What clients ask before they instruct us

How do I know if my tree is protected?

Your council keeps the register of orders, and a conservation area protects trees automatically. We check both in the free constraints check and say which trees are covered.

Can I prune a tree myself?

Not without checking. Pruning a protected tree needs consent, and in a conservation area six weeks' notice. Doing it without is an offence, so ask first.

What does a survey cost?

From £485 for a typical garden, with no VAT to add. A site with many trees is confirmed in writing before you commit.

Does the survey help with a basement?

Yes: roots and a deep excavation are the commonest clash. See basement conversion drawings for how the two are drawn together.

Will the council always accept the report?

The council decides on the trees and the design together. A survey that explains why the layout avoids the roots gives the officer what they need, but no one can promise a decision.

09Related

Kensington street lined with brick townhouses and lit streetlamps beneath an orange dusk sky

Send us the address of your house.

We look up the conservation area, listing and Article 4 position, then reply with a fixed fee. A message before 3pm is answered the same working day.

Ask for a fixed fee Call 020 7131 9703 WhatsApp