How do you use CAVAT?

The CAVAT Group

The members of the CAVAT (Capital Asset Value for Amenity Trees) Group are seeking to explore and understand how CAVAT is being used.

We have launched a simple ‘Examples of Use’ form to enable practitioners to submit details of how they use the method.

Our pro bono group seeks to: ensure CAVAT is an established, defendable system that can be relied upon to inform decisions about amenity trees; encourage and facilitate CAVAT training; and promote CAVAT to see it widely adopted as a complementary system for tree experts and decision makers, planners and policy makers. Our members come from the London Tree Officers Association and the Municipal Tree Officers Association, plus representatives from the commercial arboricultural consulting and research sectors.

We are always open to feedback on CAVAT, and recognise that through feedback and evaluation of its use and performance we will be able to evidence change requirements. We also wish to be able to communicate more readily on the benefits of the use of CAVAT, respond to concerns, and raise awareness if incorrect use is spotted.

We encourage all CAVAT Users to please submit examples of use via the online form. There are clear options for participants to specify how the CAVAT Group may hold and use submitted information, and contributors can choose to include their data in an open-access library, or for it only to be used for review by the CAVAT group.

For further information and to access the form, visit www.ltoa.org.uk/resources/cavat

This article was taken from Issue 209 Summer 2025 of the ARB Magazine, which is available to view free to members by simply logging in to the website and viewing your profile area.