Woodland Orders, felling licences and how they interact

Two different regimes protect woodland trees in England, and they hand over to each other in a way that catches out most people felling anything for the first time. A woodland Tree Preservation Order made by the local planning authority protects every tree in the area it covers, including trees that grow there afterwards. A felling licence issued by the forestry authority under the Forestry Act 1967 controls felling of growing trees above a volume threshold, whoever owns them. Where both could apply, the felling licence regime generally takes over, and applying to the wrong body wastes several months.

Which body you deal with depends on volume and on what you are doing, not on which one you have heard of.

What a woodland Order protects

Tree Preservation Orders are made under section 198 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the procedure sits in the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation) (England) Regulations 2012. An Order can protect individual trees, groups of trees, an area of trees as they stood on the date of the Order, or a woodland.

The woodland classification is the broadest. It protects all the trees within the mapped woodland, and unlike an area Order it extends to trees that grow up afterwards, whether planted or self-seeded. That is deliberate: the purpose is to preserve the woodland as a woodland rather than a fixed list of stems.

Within a woodland Order, cutting down, topping, lopping, uprooting, wilfully damaging or wilfully destroying a tree requires the authority's consent, applied for on the standard form with a specification of the works and the reasons. Exceptions exist for dead trees and for trees presenting an immediate risk of serious harm, and both require notice to the authority, with the five day prior notice route for urgent works being the one most often overlooked.

When a felling licence is required instead

A felling licence is needed to fell growing trees, with exemptions. The main volume exemption allows up to five cubic metres to be felled in any calendar quarter, of which no more than two cubic metres may be sold. Diameter thresholds exempt small stems: trees of 8 centimetres diameter or less measured at 1.3 metres above ground, 10 centimetres or less for thinnings, and 15 centimetres or less for coppice and underwood.

Location exemptions cover trees in gardens, orchards, churchyards and public open spaces. Felling required by another statutory provision, or immediately necessary to prevent danger, is also exempt, and the forestry authority publishes the current list.

Those thresholds are per owner and per calendar quarter, and they are not a device for splitting a larger fell into instalments. The authority takes a dim view of a woodland felled five cubic metres at a time, and the exemption is drafted by quarter rather than by operation for a reason.

Where both regimes apply at once

This is the part that matters. Where a felling licence is required for work in a woodland covered by a Tree Preservation Order, the Order consent route does not operate separately. The felling licence application is the application, and the forestry authority consults the local planning authority before deciding.

So the practical rule runs like this.

That last row is narrower than people hope. A planning permission removes the need for a felling licence only where the felling is necessary to carry out development for which full permission has been granted, so an outline permission or a permission for part of a site will not cover clearance elsewhere. The interaction is set out further in woodland felling licences and when planning is not enough.

Thinning, coppicing and management plans

Thinning is felling. It needs a licence if it exceeds the exemption thresholds, and a woodland being managed properly will exceed them quickly.

The sensible route for anyone with more than a small copse is an approved management plan. A plan prepared to the UK Forestry Standard and approved by the forestry authority can carry felling approval across a period of years, which removes the need to apply operation by operation and gives the local planning authority sight of the long term intention at the same time. It also makes the woodland eligible for grant schemes, which is often the argument that persuades an owner to prepare one.

Coppicing on a traditional rotation sits within the coppice diameter exemption in many cases, and above it in others where the rotation has been left too long. Measure before cutting rather than after.

Penalties under each regime

Felling without a licence where one is required is an offence under the Forestry Act 1967. Beyond a fine, the authority can serve a restocking notice requiring the owner to replant and maintain the trees, which is usually the more expensive consequence and runs with the land.

Breaching a Tree Preservation Order is an offence under section 210 of the 1990 Act, with a separate duty under section 206 to replace a tree removed in contravention of the Order. In a woodland the replanting duty applies to the same number of trees on or near the land.

Two points worth stating plainly. Ignorance of an Order is not a defence, and Orders are held on the council's register and increasingly on national datasets, so checking takes minutes. And a contractor who fells protected trees can be prosecuted alongside the landowner, which is why the specification given to a contractor should name the consent it relies on.

Sequencing consents for a woodland scheme

Work through the checks in this order before any saw runs.

1. Check whether a Tree Preservation Order covers the land, using the council's register and the national planning datasets, and whether the land sits in a conservation area, which brings its own six week notice requirement under section 211.
2. Check whether the woodland is ancient woodland or holds a designation, because a felling licence application in ancient woodland attracts additional scrutiny and different policy tests.
3. Calculate the volume to be felled against the exemption thresholds, and record the calculation.
4. Commission a tree survey where the work relates to development, so retained trees, root protection areas and construction effects are documented to the recognised standard.
5. Check protected species, because bats, dormice, badgers and nesting birds all occur in woodland and the survey seasons are fixed. A Preliminary Ecological Appraisal scopes this.
6. Decide the route from the table above, and apply to the right body, allowing for the consultation period.
7. Where the work supports development, make sure the approved Landscape Strategy and any replanting commitment match what the consent actually permits.

Allow real time for this. A felling licence application involves consultation and a public register entry, and an application made in late winter for work that must happen before the bird nesting season starts in March is usually too late.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which arboricultural and ecological reports a woodland scheme is likely to need, then confirm the consent route with the forestry authority before instructing a contractor.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.