Trees in Town II - Department for Communities and Local Government - A new.

Feb 03, If the trees are removed their roots will no longer extract moisture from the soil and it is possible that ‘heave’ could occur. As we have said ‘subsidence’ in clay soils tends to be cyclical with shrinkage and expansion taking place on a seasonal shrubclean.barted Reading Time: 13 mins. Heave is normally caused by the removal of trees or large shrubs. While the tree is growing the surrounding soil is dried out but when the tree is removed the moisture content builds up, causing the ground to swell.

The process can take many years but the damage caused by heave is, in most cases, much more severe than that caused by subsidence. Problems can arise if mature trees near houses. Jun 30, Subsidence damage as caused by a tree subject to a Tree Preservation Order is an issue that demands cross-profession liaison; specifically, between at least the arboriculturist, planning officer / manager, and insurance officer / manager for the Local Planning Authority (i.e.

Local Council), in addition to the tree owner and their insurer – plus the homeowner with a damaged house and their home insurer – where the tree is a third-party tree). Estimated Reading Time: 11 mins. Jul 17, The result of this is that the tree will suck all of the moisture out of the ground, causing the soil to shrink down, potentially leaving sections of the building foundations unsupported, causing movement and cracking.

This is subsidence. Cutting Down Trees. Availability of free water. It is difficult to say exactly how long it will take for the ground to recover.

It can take as little as a few winter months up to as many as 25 years! However the points above will help to give you an idea of what will affect the amount of heave and thus the recovery time of the soil. Jan 25, What we do have to bear in mind is that removal of vegetation is always somewhat experimental. There is no guarantee that removing trees or shrubs will have the desired effect and even if the property does stabilise after tree removal there is no way of proving that the building would not have stabilised of its own accord anyway.