Ownership: It is essential that you have permission from the legal landowner to plant trees.
Services: Shrubs may be acceptable when spaced 3 metres away from overhead powerlines but avoid smaller and larger trees. Underground services are best left un-planted unless the service provider or your agreement with them permits it.
Archaeology: Tree roots break up archaeological deposits. Even when trees are already growing on archaeology it is not advised to introduce new trees.
You are likely to know if your farm has a designated heritage asset (Scheduled Ancient Monument, Registered Park and Garden etc). Such sites are shown on magic.defra.gov.uk, so you can check if you are unsure. All known archaeology should be avoided when tree planting.
Lynchets, ridge and furrow, burial grounds, forts and woodbanks are commonly found on farms and most likely are not shown on magic.defra.gov.uk. We recommend checking your Local Authority Historic Environment Records online database.
Valuable habitats and features: Avoid changing conditions on semi-natural habitats like unimproved or semi-improved grasslands.
Features like mature open grown trees, beetle banks, bat roosts and sites associate with ground nesting farm birds could easily be adversely impacted by tree planting and are best avoided. Look up your farm on magic.defra.gov.uk for habitats and species that may impact on your planting plans.
Impacts: By planting the right tree in the right place you can avoid damaging drains, buildings and creating a future tree safety issue. Think about the future impacts on views, TV signals, safety and infrastructure both on your land and any neighbours that may be affected.
Protected Habitats: You likely will already know if your land is within or bordering land that has restrictions on it in the form of various designations and the associated legislation. You can double check if you are unsure by using the magic.defra.gov.uk website, navigating to your planting site and turning on all the layers under the “designations” category.
