A cut section of a felled oak trunk showing its rings at a field edge

Felling licence thresholds for Exeter gardens and land

9 min read
Rules and permits
A felling licence under the Forestry Act 1967 is separate from planning consent, and most garden felling is exempt from it. This guide explains section 9, the garden and volume exemptions and how they interact with tree preservation orders.

Most felling in an Exeter garden does not need a felling licence, but the rule is not a blanket exemption, and the owner who assumes it is may find the work stopped partway through. A felling licence is a separate permission from the planning consent that protects some trees, and it is administered by the Forestry Commission rather than the council. Understanding when the licence applies, how the exemptions work and where they overlap with tree protection saves a good deal of trouble on land of any size.

The basic rule under the Forestry Act 1967

The starting point is section 9 of the Forestry Act 1967, which requires a felling licence to be granted by the appropriate forestry authority before growing trees are felled, except where the Act or the provisions under it give an exemption. The requirement applies to trees, not to timber, so a licence is needed for the felling itself even when the wood is kept on site and never sold. The Act is written with woodland management in mind, but its reach extends to any land that has growing trees on it.

In plain terms, the Forestry Commission's page When a felling licence is needed puts it this way: felling growing trees anywhere in England requires a licence unless an exemption covers it, and the Commission issues those licences free of charge. That short statement carries most of the practical weight. An owner needs to establish first whether the trees are growing trees within the meaning of the Act, and second whether an exemption covers the work proposed.

Exemptions for gardens and small-scale work

Section 9(2) of the Forestry Act 1967 lists the cases where the licence requirement does not apply. Three of them matter most for a householder. The first covers trees with a diameter not exceeding 8 centimetres, or 15 centimetres in the case of coppice or underwood, measured over the bark at 1.3 metres above ground level under section 9(6). The second covers the felling of fruit trees and of trees standing on land in an orchard, garden, churchyard or public open space. The third covers topping, lopping and the trimming or laying of hedges. Under the second of these, a tree growing in a domestic garden does not need a felling licence under the Forestry Act, which is why most garden felling in Exeter never reaches the Forestry Commission.

Section 9(3) of the same Act deals with land in the occupation of the person doing the felling, or of a tenant, and it sets a volume limit. Trees may be felled without a licence where the aggregate cubic content does not exceed 5 cubic metres in any quarter, of which not more than 2 cubic metres may be sold, and the same subsection allows thinning of trees up to 10 centimetres in diameter where the aim is to improve the growth of other trees. The Forestry Commission's guidance applies the volume limit to calendar quarters starting on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October. The Act is the reliable reference for these figures, and an owner who is planning felling on a larger plot should read the whole of section 9 rather than rely on a summary, because the conditions attached to each exemption matter as much as the numbers.

Some owners assume that a tree near a boundary falls outside the garden exemption. The test is whether the tree stands on land comprised in the garden, so the position of the boundary and the ownership of the land should be checked against the title if there is any doubt. The garden exemption does not remove every other control. A tree in a garden can still be protected by a tree preservation order or stand in a conservation area, and the planning position described below continues to apply. The exemption from a felling licence answers only the forestry question, so an owner should check both the planning and the forestry position before work begins.

Owners who are clearing a larger area, such as a field boundary or a small wood, should not assume an exemption applies. Once felling moves beyond a garden, and once the volume or the number of trees exceeds the limits in section 9, a licence is likely to be required. The purpose of the felling and the use to which the land will be put are also relevant to the Forestry Commission's decision, so those details should be settled before any application is made.

Section 9(4) of the Act adds further exceptions, including felling for the prevention of danger or the prevention or abatement of a nuisance, felling in compliance with an Act of Parliament, and felling immediately required for development authorised by planning permission. The Forestry Commission's Tree felling: getting permission guidance reads these narrowly: the danger exception could be said to apply only where there is an immediate risk of serious harm and urgent work is needed, the nuisance exception only to an actionable nuisance, and the development exception to full planning permission or permitted development. The guidance adds that the legal burden of proving an exception rests with the person who relied on it, so photographs, maps, reports and a record of when the felling took place should be kept.

Felling without a licence where one is required is an offence. Under section 17 of the Forestry Act 1967, a person who fells a tree in England without a required licence is liable on summary conviction to a fine, with no maximum stated in the section, and the GOV.UK guidance warns that everyone involved, including landowners, tenants, agents, timber merchants and contractors, can be prosecuted.

How tree protection and felling licences overlap

Where an exception from the felling licence applies, as it does for a tree in a garden, the planning controls still apply in full. A tree protected by a tree preservation order needs the council's consent before it is cut down, topped, lopped or uprooted, and a tree in a conservation area needs six weeks' notice to the council, as the guidance on tree preservation orders and trees in conservation areas explains. In Exeter that council is Exeter City Council, so a garden owner deals with the council rather than the Forestry Commission.

Where a felling licence is needed for a protected tree, the position is different, and this overlap is one of the main reasons owners get confused. The Forestry Commission's getting permission guidance says the application then goes to the Commission, which must be told which order protects the trees; the Commission consults the local planning authority, no separate permission under the order is needed, and an objection from the authority that is not withdrawn prevents the licence being issued. The same guidance says section 15 of the Act stops the council considering an application to fell protected trees where the felling would normally need a licence. In a conservation area, the Commission notifies the council of the licence application, so a separate six-week notice is not required. In practice, the owner should first establish which route applies, because an application made to the wrong body wastes time on both sides.

Applying through the Forestry Commission

Where a licence is needed, the application is made to the Forestry Commission. Its Tree felling: getting permission guidance explains the process and the information needed, including a felling plan or map, and says that unless an application is for thinning only it is published on the public register so that the public can comment. The Commission aims to issue or refuse a licence within 3 months of receiving a complete application, and it advises applying 3 or more months before felling is due to start, so an owner should prepare the map, the species and number of trees and the restocking proposals before starting.

Replanting is a condition in many licences, and the owner should expect to be asked how the land will be restocked. The condition is intended to maintain tree cover, and an owner who plans to build or clear the land for another use may need to discuss the position directly with the authority. Decisions can take longer where further information is needed, and the owner should not commit to a felling date until the licence has been granted in writing.

Licences carry conditions, and breaching them can lead to enforcement. The licence will normally specify the trees to be felled, the period in which felling can take place and the steps required afterwards. A crew should be given a copy of the licence before work begins, and the owner should keep a copy with the property papers.

Owners who obtain a licence should keep the decision letter and the approved plan with the property papers. The enforcement position depends on what was approved, and a crew that works outside the plan can leave the owner answering for the difference.

Gardens, land and the local picture in Exeter

Exeter has a mix of city-centre gardens, suburban plots and some larger tracts of land on the edge of the built-up area. The licence question tends to arise on the larger plots rather than in the smaller gardens, but the protection rules apply across the city. An owner in a garden near Pinhoe or Exwick, for example, should check both the planning and forestry positions if the felling involves more than a handful of trees or any significant volume of timber.

A commercial landowner or a managing agent with several sites should take a systematic approach. Each site should be checked separately, and the records should show the planning position, the licence position and any exemption relied on. The commercial tree service and the compliance service both cover the paperwork that accompanies larger felling programmes.

For a householder who is not sure whether a licence is needed, the right course is to ask before the work is booked. Contractors who see a large felling job will often ask about licences during the survey, and a quote that does not mention the question should be queried. The guide on what a quote should include explains which items a written quote should list, including the consents needed before the work starts. Once the licence and consent position is clear, a quote request can describe the trees, the access and what should happen to the timber.

Recycling the timber from a felled tree raises a separate set of questions, which are covered in the guide on recycling logs and chippings. Where a licence is granted, the owner should read its restocking conditions before the timber is cleared, because the GOV.UK guidance says felling licences usually require the felled area to be restocked, by replanting or by allowing natural regeneration.