Felling license on land I don't own

[Mark Wileman]

Good evening,

 

An opportunity has arisen for me to purchase a small area of predominantly oak woodland (5 acres). It's all forest grown and nice and straight, the plan would be to sit on it for a few years and then use it for green oak framing in the future (less than 30m3/year). It's not an ancient woodland.

 

Is there are way to gauge if a felling license would be granted in the future before I purchase it, or best to just take the gamble?

[Paul in the woods]

You could try speaking to the local woodland forestry officer. Are you planning to thin, clear fell or do something else?

 

I am sure you've done this, but check it thoroughly for squirrel damage.

[woody paul]

How much less then 30m3 @ year. At 5m3 a quarter takes you to 20m3 and no felling licence. 

[Mark Wileman]

37 minutes ago, woody paul said:

How much less then 30m3 @ year. At 5m3 a quarter takes you to 20m3 and no felling licence. 

Oh! I thought it was 2m3 a quarter! This is probably the better option, it'll be on an ad hoc basis anyway - I think... I'm just future proofing my income.

[Mark Wileman]

50 minutes ago, Paul in the woods said:

You could try speaking to the local woodland forestry officer. Are you planning to thin, clear fell or do something else?

 

I am sure you've done this, but check it thoroughly for squirrel damage.

I'd hopefully be able to pull out enough sawlogs via thinning, but may need to clear fell portions over time.

 

Yeah I'll speak to the forestry officer, I just wasn't sure how approachable they are. Is it common to get felling licenses granted for such low yield? My only experience with dealing with permissions is planning permission and that whole process has scared me to even ask the powers that be for anything...

[Paul in the woods]

9 minutes ago, Mark Wileman said:

Oh! I thought it was 2m3 a quarter! This is probably the better option, it'll be on an ad hoc basis anyway - I think... I'm just future proofing my income.

You can only sell 2m3 a quarter. I'm not a fan of using the exemptions myself as I don't want to be felling in Spring or Summer.

 

Personally, as a small woodland owner I found my local woodland officer useless and not interested in processing my felling licence, expecting me to make use of my exemptions.

 

I gather other woodland officers are far better so it would be worth trying to see what your one is like.

[slack ma girdle]

I've just had a felling licence granted for 12m3

[Amarus]

I would definitely go for a felling licence, it covers you if someone makes a noise about your tree felling.

 

I gather you are in Wales, felling licences tend to last for 2 years only while thinning licences are valid up to 5 years.

 

If the land is in England, on top of a standalone licence (valid for five years) you can either create a small woodland management plan (attracting no funding) or apply for a woodland management plan (WMP) grant as the threshold has been lowered to 0.5ha (albeit RPA has not yet cottoned onto this last time I checked). A (small)WMP comes with a 10 year licence and opens up the door for some further grants.