Seeing the Woods for the Trees
I am often asked by clients to advise in cases where trees have been felled and the work has become the focus for enforcement action. Frequently, my clients will say to me that they have taken care to ensure that there is no Tree Preservation Order on the trees but still they find themselves in hot water. Often this is because either the trees have been felled in a conservation area or because the quantity of trees felled is such that a felling licence from the Forestry Commission was required. Sometimes, though, this is not the end of the matter because one or more of the exceptions may apply. I am then able to guide my clients through the labyrinthine legislation to a satisfactory outcome.
In brief, these notes may help those planning to do work on trees, before making a costly mistake:
Doing Work on Trees in a Conservation Area
Most people who own trees will know that the Council can impose Tree Preservation Orders as a form of planning control under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. But it is less well known that where trees stand in a designated conservation area the Act requires notification to be given to the Council so that it can decide whether to impose a TPO.
If you are planning to carry out work on trees do first check to see if they are standing in a designated conservation area. If you carry out works within the notification period without consent, or if you do not give notice at all, a criminal offence is committed unless the work is carried out under one of the exceptions in the Tree Regulations 2012.
The restrictions apply to all works on trees and not just cutting trees down.
Such offences are serious and those convicted may be liable to unlimited fines either in the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court. The law also requires trees which have been cut down without consent to be replaced.
Felling Trees Without a Felling Licence
Even if the trees to be worked on do not have a TPO on them and are not in conservation area, the Forestry Act 1967 requires that before felling trees application is made to the Forestry Commission for a licence, unless one of the exemptions from the need for a licence exists. This might be if, for example, the trees are in a garden, orchard or churchyard or where the cubic content of the trees felled in any one quarter does not exceed 5 cubic metres and the quantity sold in any quarter does not exceed 2 cubic metres.
Felling trees subject to a TPO where the quantity of felled timber means that a felling licence might be required.
What happens where trees are felled which, it turns out, were subject of a TPO (either a woodland TPO or specified tree TPOs) but the quantity of timber is such that a felling licence would be required? In this case, if none of the exemptions apply under the 2012 Tree Regulations, and the local authority wants to take criminal proceedings for breach of the TPO, they are not allowed to do so. Instead proceedings have to be taken by the Forestry Commission for felling without a licence and a six month time limit applies from discovery of the illegal felling. If the local authority tries to prosecute for breaching the TPO then the charge is one which is not known to law. This is a complicated area of law on which advice should be taken.
Can the Forestry Commission require me to restock trees felled without a licence?
Yes, you can be required to replace trees illegally felled without a licence if it appears to the Forestry Commission that an offence has been committed. The Forestry Commission does not have to obtain a conviction in the magistrates’ court before serving a restocking notice.
If you would like to speak to us about any issues you may have which relate to the content of this article then please contact Diane Bartsch on 01473 298167 or diane.bartsch@gotelee.co.uk
