Felling licence required?

[benedmonds]

I have a client with a large plot.. The previous owner planted 1,500m2 of conifers approx 100 trees, 15-20 years ago.  They are now a dense stand about 6-8m tall.

He wants to clear fell the site and there must be more the 5 cubic m... There certainly is if we are chipping it..

 

How do I find out if it is a garden and therefore exempt from requiring a felling licence? Or is it to young to count?

 

I want reckon chipping all for biomass is the simplest solution, but he wants me to leave in 2.5 lengths so he can sell the logs to be chipped for biomass...? 

 

https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-6dfkw6

The google maps is a few years old....

Edited March 27, 2018 by benedmonds

[htb]

Technically if its part of the garden enclosure, you don't need a felling licence. Depends if he bought some of the field in the past from farmer and made it part of his garden without a change of use, as looks like it could have happened from aerial pic.

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, benedmonds said:

I have a client with a large plot.. The previous owner planted 1,500m2 of conifers approx 100 trees, 15-20 years ago. 

That's 1/6 ha so with a yield class of say 12 there would be at most 40m3 and it looks half that

1 hour ago, benedmonds said:

 

They are now a dense stand about 6-8m tall.

He wants to clear fell the site and there must be more the 5 cubic m... There certainly is if we are chipping it..

Only those bits bigger than 8cms count in the measure

1 hour ago, benedmonds said:

 

How do I find out if it is a garden and therefore exempt from requiring a felling licence? Or is it to young to count?

The wording is within the curtilage of the house which in this case is probably the bit from the back of the house to the entrance drive, possibly including the paddock to the front (SE) and probably not the paddock to the west and almost certainly not the bit to the north with the trees in it

1 hour ago, benedmonds said:

 

I want reckon chipping all for biomass is the simplest solution, but he wants me to leave in 2.5 lengths so he can sell the logs to be chipped for biomass...? 

 

If you sell it then you restrict yourself to 2m3 per quarter, we're in the second quarter in 4 days. I'd fell 5m3 of the biggest trees within in the next four days, thin out any less than 10cms dbh in April and then fell 5m3 after the thinning for the next quarter and I'll bet there's not anything left that's licensable after that

[Stubby]

Also if you do the chipping check with the bio mass people what size chip they require . It can be critical .  If you get it wrong all you have is some chip . 

[benedmonds]

10 hours ago, openspaceman said:

That's 1/6 ha so with a yield class of say 12 there would be at most 40m3 and it looks half that

Only those bits bigger than 8cms count in the measure

I'd fell 5m3 of the biggest trees within in the next four days, thin out any less than 10cms dbh in April and then fell 5m3 after the thinning for the next quarter and I'll bet there's not anything left that's licensable after that

Thanks for the info.. Is a felling licence likely to be approved do you think? 

The trouble is if you do it in bits the the economies of scale don't work.. 3 or 4 days with a big chipper and a digger job done.. 

[benedmonds]

9 hours ago, Stubby said:

Also if you do the chipping check with the bio mass people what size chip they require . It can be critical .  If you get it wrong all you have is some chip . 

How much do can folk get for biomas? We sell all ours for £10 a ton. 

[daltontrees]

12 hours ago, openspaceman said:

Only those bits bigger than 8cms count in the measure

 

You mean any trees at 8cm or less DBH don't count? Branches less than 8cm coming off trees that are greater than 8cm DBH surely count? It's "aggregate cubic content", ingoring exemptions.

[openspaceman]

17 minutes ago, daltontrees said:

You mean any trees at 8cm or less DBH don't count? Branches less than 8cm coming off trees that are greater than 8cm DBH surely count? It's "aggregate cubic content", ingoring exemptions.

Yes as I said, and from experience, FC measure any bits of the tree over 8cms including branchwood.

[openspaceman]

2 hours ago, benedmonds said:

Thanks for the info.. Is a felling licence likely to be approved do you think? 

Yes but with a replant condition for on the crop for the next 10 yars.

2 hours ago, benedmonds said:

The trouble is if you do it in bits the the economies of scale don't work.. 3 or 4 days with a big chipper and a digger job done.. 

I know but needs must...

 

Anyway it's 2 hours with the Plaisance tops and what's 40tonne of chip worth standing?

[openspaceman]

2 hours ago, benedmonds said:

How much do can folk get for biomas? We sell all ours for £10 a ton. 

When I retired 18 months ago it was £5/tonne but I think it's shot up since, a big chip drying and reselling plant at a power station on the coast takes it for RHI boilers. It dries from green to below W30 in 16 minutes.

 

Anyway with the chip maybe worth 400 but probably much less mass than that in the stand because of open spaces do the costs of moving machines and operating them for a day work out?

 

How about 3 days over 3 quarters one man and a mini digger plus bonfire

 

Or manually fell over same 3 quarters, leave trees whole and then take chipper in but accept the wood for free