Trees and Planting Near Hard Surfaces Questions Checklist

Mark the exact area in question on a plan, with its distance from the building, the boundary and the tree, rather than describing it.

Both professionals will answer differently about a position a couple of paces apart, so the position has to be fixed first.

Record what the tree is, roughly how large it is, and photograph it whole from several positions including one showing the ground beneath.

An arboricultural professional can do a great deal with a photograph and almost nothing with a description of a big tree.

Record what the existing surface is made from, when it was laid, and whether anything about it has already lifted, cracked or dipped.

How the surface behaves now is evidence about the ground beneath it and is the part owners describe rather than photograph.

Photograph the ground surface across the whole area from fixed positions, including anywhere it is uneven, sunken or differently coloured.

Comparison later is only possible against a fixed viewpoint, and this is the last moment the before state exists.

Write down what is known or believed to be below that spot, including drainage, services, made ground and anything previously built there.

What is underneath decides more of this than either party will guess, and the owner usually holds the only record of it.

Buried services and structures are located by qualified professionals before anything is dug; nothing here establishes what is below ground.

Note what has previously been on that area, including an old shed base, a former path, or ground that was made up during building work.

The history explains a great deal about what the ground is now, and it is held by the owner rather than by anybody they will appoint.

Ask a surfacing professional what ground the surface you want requires beneath it, and record the answer in their words.

The answer is about the ground rather than about the paving, which is the part owners do not anticipate.

Ask an arboricultural professional what the tree requires of the ground around it, and record that answer in their words too.

Keeping both answers verbatim lets a third party see the conflict without either professional having to characterise the other's position.

What a particular tree requires, and what work near it is possible, is a determination for a qualified arboricultural professional.

Write the two requirements on one page next to each other, without trying to reconcile them or soften either one.

Seen together they usually settle the question faster than any amount of discussion of possible compromises.

Ask each professional directly whether both can be satisfied at this position, and keep both answers even where they disagree.

The disagreement is the useful finding and it vanishes the moment somebody summarises it into a single account.

Ask whether there are constructions that resolve the conflict here, what each would involve, and what each asks of the site.

Approaches exist that substitute for what the ground would otherwise have to be, and whether they suit this position is a professional judgement.

Ask, for each possible answer, what is given up, including use of the surface, the tree's future size, or room elsewhere.

Every resolution here trades something, and naming the trade is what turns it into a decision rather than a hope.

Write down who you would ask about the tree and who you would ask about the surface, and note where you have only one of them.

Most owners start with one party, and the missing half is the reason the answer feels incomplete.

Ask each party plainly what falls outside what they are able to advise on, and record the boundary they describe in their own words.

Professionals are usually clear about this when asked, and the boundary they name is the shape of what you still need.

Give both parties the same record of the position, the same photographs and the same plan, rather than describing it separately to each.

Two answers based on different descriptions are not really disagreeing, which is a distinction worth preserving.

Ask whether the two would be willing to speak to each other, and whether either would want the other's view before answering.

Sometimes they will, and an hour of that is worth more than several rounds of an owner relaying positions.

Ask who, if anybody, is looking at this as one question rather than two, and write down what you are told.

Where nobody holds that role it is better established now than discovered after one half has been built.

Decide which question you ask first, noting that an answer about the tree may close options before any surface is designed.

Asking in the wrong order produces a surface design that a later arboricultural answer makes unbuildable.

Ask what leaving a larger opening in the paving around the tree would and would not achieve at this position.

It is the first suggestion almost everybody makes, and it is worth an explicit answer rather than an assumption.

Ask what a root barrier would actually do at this position, and what it would ask of the tree and of the surface afterwards.

A barrier changes where roots go rather than whether they grow, and the difference matters at this position.

Whether any measure near a tree is appropriate is a determination for a qualified arboricultural professional for that tree and that site.

Ask what a surface built to let water through changes about the conflict at this position, and what it leaves entirely unchanged.

Water is only part of what a tree needs from the ground, so this answers less of the question than it appears to.

Ask what would happen if roots were cut to allow the work, and who decides whether that is possible at all.

This is the answer most often reached for on site by whoever is digging, and it is precisely the one that needs a professional.

Cutting roots can affect a tree's health and stability. Whether any root may be cut is decided by a qualified arboricultural professional before work begins.

Ask whether the tree could be moved, what that would involve, and what the chances of it establishing again would be.

Moving is occasionally possible, rarely straightforward, and worth asking about rather than assuming either way.

Ask what would be lost by putting the surface somewhere else, and treat that as a real option rather than a concession.

The wish is usually for a function rather than for a position, and the function may be satisfiable elsewhere.

Confirm with the local authority whether the tree is subject to any protection, and record what you were told and when.

This is a question with a local answer that changes what is possible, and it is asked far too late on most projects.

Whether a tree is protected, and what that means, is confirmed with the local authority; requirements vary by location and by property.

Note whether the tree, or part of it, belongs to a neighbour, and whether the work reaches ground beyond your boundary.

A tree on the other side of a fence is a conversation with a person rather than a technical question.

Ask what protection the tree needs while the work is happening, including where machines, materials and spoil may and may not stand.

A tree frequently survives the design and not the fortnight of construction that followed it.

Write down what you would accept if the surface later lifts or dips, and whether that would change the decision now.

Deciding this in advance is much easier than deciding it while looking at a lifted slab and a tree you like.

Record what you decided, what you were told by each party, and what you accepted giving up, dated and kept with the garden records.

The reasoning behind a decision like this is lost within a year, and the next owner inherits only the result.

Make sure whoever does the work is given the arboricultural answer as well as the surfacing one, rather than only their own half.

The half that does not reach the person on site is the half that gets decided by whoever is holding the machine.

Ask whether the time of year affects what may be done to the tree or around it, and record what you are told.

Timing constraints on work near trees are real, are set by others, and are met by most owners after a date has been fixed.

When work may be carried out near a tree, and what restrictions apply at any time of year, is confirmed with a qualified arboricultural professional and the local authority.

Photograph the finished area from fixed positions and repeat that each year, noting anything that lifts, dips, cracks or holds water.

The surface reports the condition of what is beneath it, and a fixed viewpoint is what makes that readable.

Note any change in the tree over the following seasons and report it rather than interpreting what it means.

Changes after nearby work are worth mentioning early to somebody qualified, whatever the eventual explanation.

Changes in a tree's condition are assessed by a qualified arboricultural professional rather than concluded from appearance.

Ask what upkeep the arrangement now requires, including anything about the surface, the opening or the ground around the tree.

Resolutions to this conflict usually carry a small recurring duty, and nobody mentions it once the work is finished.

Write down what must not be done in this area afterwards, and give it to whoever maintains the garden.

A constraint that lives only in the owner's memory is not a constraint once somebody else is doing the work.

Keep both professionals' written answers with the property records rather than discarding them once the work has been finished and paid for.

The next person to consider this position starts from where you got to rather than from the beginning.

Note what would prompt you to ask again, such as the tree growing considerably or the surface starting to move.

Naming the trigger now means the question gets asked at the right time rather than at the point it becomes urgent.

Note what the canopy drops onto the surface through the year, and who would clear it, before treating the position as settled.

A surface beneath a tree acquires a recurring upkeep duty that nobody counts into the wish for paving there.