Building next to trees

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bluebaron

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Anyone know how close you can realistically build next to a large oak tree?

Don’t care about cost etc just can it be done with the right foundations etc, will planning allow it.

I can’t see anything in the regs to say you can’t providing you have precautions for protection of new build and tree?
 
bluebaron said:
Anyone know how close you can realistically build next to a large oak tree?

Don’t care about cost etc just can it be done with the right foundations etc, will planning allow it.

I can’t see anything in the regs to say you can’t providing you have precautions for protection of new build and tree?
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Are you on clay substrate?
 
What are you building next to the tree: a house? an extension? a shed?
 
If you need planning permission then any potential adverse effect on the tree will be taken in to account. You may need an arboricultural report to show that the root system will be undisturbed. If the tree is very close then the planning application could be rejected.
If the tree has a preservation order on it then that might also curtail a permitted development extension as well.
 
Ok yea it’s for a potential house . No TPO but I have 3 large trees was thinking maybe whip two out and try a save the third. Bit worried about heave etc but getting a survey done.

Question was more about is it possible rather than how. I guess with a suitable plan that shows both foundation and the tree are safe then the planners will allow it?

its about 5m away and it’s a large mature oak with a diameter over a meter.
 
It is possible. Just get the right survey and approach planning etc.
 
Great , but worries I’ll put planning on and get a no cause of tree and planners will stick a TPO on it before I can take it out. Gamble I guess I’ll have to consider.
 
5m seems quite close - I'd be more worried about falling branches. Your tree is quite young so unlikely to die in your lifetime, but even healthy trees in their prime can be blown over in the increasingly common "severe weather conditions", or shed large branches.
I'd think about the insurance implications. Doing a risk assessment and getting an expert to report on an existing tree in an existing siuation is one matter, but deliberately putting a structure in a potentially risky situation is another, even if the risk is very low.
 
As a ballpark estimate i'd put at least 10 meters between the wall and the leading branch.
 
Right next to it with suitable design.

But planners may have the deciding comments and want spacing from the trees.
 
bluebaron said:
its about 5m away and it’s a large mature oak with a diameter over a meter
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piled foundations or pads and a ring beam with a suspended floor can work because the soil below the foundation is pretty undisturbed and the roots can still survive albeit with no rainwater hitting the ground.
 
Odds said:
As a ballpark estimate i'd put at least 10 meters between the wall and the leading branch.
Click to expand...

Would that be electricity meters or gas meters? :)

On a point of information "metre" is a unit of metric length, "meter" is a device for measuring or displaying something.
 
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