A tree constraints plan is a scale drawing that shows every surveyed tree on and around a site, together with the constraints each one places on new building work: its position, its root protection area, its crown spread and its quality grading. It is produced as part of a BS 5837 tree survey, and it is the sheet an architect lays a proposed layout over before the design is fixed. If a council has asked you for a tree survey to support a planning application, the constraints plan is usually the drawing the planning officer opens first.
What the drawing shows
The plan is drawn over a topographical survey of the site, so every tree sits in its true position relative to boundaries, levels and existing buildings. Each tree carries a number that matches the survey schedule, and against each one the plan shows:
- the quality category, from A for the best trees down to U for those that cannot safely be kept, usually colour coded so the pattern across the site is obvious at a glance
- the root protection area, drawn to scale as the ground that must stay free of excavation, level changes and compaction if the tree is to survive construction
- the crown spread, measured at the four compass points rather than assumed to be a neat circle
A thorough plan adds height and shade context as well. A tall tree to the south of a plot will shade gardens and windows for much of the day, and a layout that ignores this tends to generate pressure to prune or fell within a few years of the houses being occupied. Showing heights and likely shadow patterns lets the designer deal with the problem on paper, where it is cheap to solve.
The plan and the schedule are two halves of one survey
People sometimes ask whether they need the schedule or the plan. The answer is both, because they do different jobs. The schedule is the table: species, dimensions, age class, condition and the category grade for every tree, with notes on any defects our surveyors found. The constraints plan takes that information and puts it on the ground. The schedule tells you a tree is category B with a generous root protection area; the plan shows you that the root protection area covers the corner where the garage was pencilled in. Architects work almost entirely from the plan, and planning officers read the two side by side.
How it differs from a tree protection plan
The names are similar and they are regularly mixed up, but the two drawings belong to different stages. The constraints plan comes first and is deliberately neutral: it records what is there and what each tree needs, with no proposals shown on it. The tree protection plan comes later, once the layout has been settled. It shows which trees are being retained and which removed, where protective fencing will run during construction, and where ground protection is needed for site traffic and storage. Put simply, the constraints plan informs the design, and the protection plan protects whatever the finished design keeps. Councils often attach a condition requiring an approved protection plan, so work should not begin on site until it is in place. Submitting one drawing when the other was asked for is a common reason applications stall.
When the council expects one
Most local planning authorities ask for a tree survey with any application where trees stand on the site, or close enough on neighbouring land to be affected. Their validation checklists usually word this as a survey to BS 5837, which in practice means the schedule and the constraints plan together, with an impact assessment and protection plan following as the scheme firms up. Every council publishes its own requirements, so check the current validation checklist for your authority before you submit. It is also worth confirming early whether any tree on or near the site is covered by a preservation order or stands in a conservation area, because that shapes what can be agreed. The council’s registers are the definitive record, and our guide to checking whether a tree is protected explains how to look.
Getting one prepared
Our team surveys sites across Preston, Lancashire and the wider North West, and a constraints plan is part of the standard output of our BS 5837 work rather than an extra. Our surveyors visit, record every relevant tree, and produce the schedule and plan together, with visits booked within days and the report following days after the visit, not weeks. Quotes come within one working day, and the price we quote is the price you pay. The survey is independent: we also carry out tree work, but the report stands alone, nothing in it depends on us doing any works, and you are free to take it to any contractor. We are an ARB Approved Contractor (AC2637) and carry professional indemnity insurance.
If you are not sure whether your council wants a constraints plan, a protection plan or the full package, use the free scope check form on our tree surveys page or call 01772 369694. We will tell you what you need, and just as readily what you do not.
