Visual Tree Inspections

Undertaking Tree Inspections

To help us manage our trees effectively we undertake regular tree inspections that are regulated and recorded.  The Parks Trust surveys and inspects our tree stock for several reasons including; Health and safety, tree health (pest and disease monitoring) and biodiversity benefits.   We survey trees in accordance with the up to date tree survey techniques (as recognised and used by the Arboricultural Association), following procedure policies put in place by Parks Trust arboricultural and senior staff place.  This policy is reviewed every three years and was last reviewed in March 2022.

Depending on factors such as the trees condition, age, size, location associated pests, diseases, issues etc, we have  three levels of surveys  and one type of inspection that are available to us, these are as follows:

 

1) General Survey of groups of trees.

General surveys on groups of trees found across the entirety of the Parks Trusts green estate are undertaken on a 5 year cycle.  All trees found on MKPT land are subject to this 5 year general survey,  This ‘walk through and observe survey’ is completed by all landscape officers and the arboricultural officers.  This general but recorded survey looks at such things as the tree species, age, general condition and target area. If trees observed raise consequential concerns, then a ‘Basic survey’ or ‘detailed Inspection’ is applied.

2) Informal review of individual trees and groups of trees.

Informal reviews of individual trees and groups of trees which again is undertaken by Landscape officers and the Arboricultural officer. This visual assessment is made by the individual, when undertaking their business on site, looking for any obvious issues which would then need looking at in more detail and recording.

3) Basic Survey of individual trees and groups

The Basic survey is a recorded basic visual assessment, at ground level, of an individual tree or tree group. It is again performed by the Arboricultural Officer and Landscape Officers.  The survey assesses the tree’s general health and aims to identify and observable and record  defects.

Depending on the severity of any defect or point of concern, the officer performing the survey can:

  1. Perform separate basic surveys to monitor the condition of the individual tree.  This can be undertaken anytime up to five years, from the last survey.
  2. Request a second opinion form the Arboricultural Officer
  3. Request for a detailed inspection from the Arboricultural Officer

4) Detailed Inspection of individual trees

The detailed inspection is a recorded assessment performed by the Trusts Arboricultural Officers. It is a methodical inspection from tree base to top, recording everything deemed significant, with photographic documentation, focusing on issues (e.g. disease) and  parts of the tree that differ from a normal example of the species.  These will be carried out to the current industry best practices (BS3998).  The detailed inspections may require such aspects as aerial observation.  Data collected in this inspection is a full description on the health of the tree in detail. Again can be resurveyed at any point within 5 years. 

By undertaking these measures, the Parks Trust tries to ensure that all of our owned trees are looked at regularly and consistently, thus helping us manage them appropriately, enabling us to grow and preserve our trees for the future generations.

 

How we carry out our inspections

We’ve recently developed a new system to support how we carry out inspections and transition away from conducting paper-based surveys outdoors and then heading back to the office to file them. Instead, our tree inspections are now carried out and the surveys recorded using an online web application. To make this possible we worked alongside Makilo, a creative development agency based in Milton Keynes, to build a solution that helped us streamline the processes we had in place, digitise the surveys and put them into the hands of the team out in the field via tablets and smartphones. Doing so now means we can maintain the landscape proactively, record accurate information, update our systems in real-time and improve efficiency and public safety.

The web application allows our team to pick from a set of tailored survey types from basic to detailed inspections. These might be for individual trees, tree groups or even zones within the city. The system includes photo uploads, off-line capabilities and geo-mapping meaning we can define the location of a single tree or draw up the boundaries of a group of trees from a mobile and tablet device allowing us to compile a map of the trees we monitor.

With The Parks Trust embracing technology, the team have been able to increase the number of surveys we can conduct outside on the job and we look to continue the ongoing innovation within The Parks Trust to manage other assets and our green spaces across Milton Keynes.