The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:

In article ,
SusieThompson wrote:
In message , Peter Crosland
writes
The short answer is nothing! You cannot safely plant any tree that
close to
a building without the risk of future subsidence. The advice from
surveyors
is that no tree should be planted within 5 metres of a building. In
the case
of some species such as willows the distance should at least 40 metres.

I found a lot of tree planting information at www.bureauinsure.co.uk.
If the insurers are happy with these distances, well, I guess they must
be the ones to be guided by.

To state flatly that no tree should be planted within 5 metres and
willows not within 40 is ridiculous. If that were true, almost all
older houses would have fallen down long ago.

Some house insurers and mortgage surveys now question the distance
between the building and any trees. If one is selling, buying,
mortgaging or changing insurers it's something to bear in mind.

Janet.