Howard Booth
Following a successful public consultation on BS 5837, the revision panel has been making progress. This article offers an update on that process and news about BS 8545.
A draft revision of BS 5837 Trees in relation to design, demolition and construction: Code of practice for public consultation was published in August 2024. The consultation saw a good level of engagement from interested parties with over 2,000 comments submitted. Given that the scale of changes is greater than for the 2012 version, we knew that comments would exceed the 1,046 made then. On behalf of the revision panel, I would like to thank all those who took part in the consultation and provided comments and proposed changes.
Comments and timescale
Like many consultations, feedback showed a broad set of perspectives and ideas, some of which were polar opposites and would not be compatible with each other. Members of the drafting panel have been meeting regularly to work through the consultation comments.
Every one is individually considered and debated to decide whether to accept, accept in principle, partially accept or reject the proposed changes. This process is progressing well, and if all goes to plan, we expect to publish a revised standard in November 2026.
I have been asked whether there will be a second consultation before a revised standard is published. The comments already received are diverse and are helping to refine the document content. If a second consultation were to be undertaken it is likely a similar volume of comments would be generated making similar points to those already made and causing unnecessary delay to publication.
Implementing revised recommendations
When a revised standard is published it immediately supersedes the old version.
It may, however, be unreasonable to expect that with immediate effect, all projects, new surveys and reports will reflect the revised recommendations. Examples of challenges to implementing a new standard include specialist survey software that needs to be reprogrammed; it may not be possible to retrospectively revise quality categories, and plan presentation may need to change. While some changes can be quickly implemented, there are others that will take longer. I therefore intend to work with industry bodies to establish a framework which consultants and tree officers can follow to ensure that the transition is fair and manageable.
BS 8545
BS 5837 (2012) includes a section on planting trees. BS 8545 Trees: from nursery to independence in the landscape. Recommendations was subsequently published and it comprehensively covers trees from nursery to establishment and independence. To avoid overlap between the two standards, tree planting has been removed from the revised BS 5837 and BS 8545 will be the principal reference. A few minor amendments have been made to BS 8545 and following consultation in autumn 2025 an amended BS 8545 was published in January.
Howard Booth is a Professional Member of the Association, Chartered Forester, Chartered Surveyor and Chartered Environmentalist. He is a Principal Arboricultural Consultant at Treework Environmental Practice with 25 years’ experience in arboriculture.
This article was taken from Issue 212 Spring 2026 of the ARB Magazine, which is available to view free to members by simply logging in to the website and viewing your profile area.