Possible felling licence infringement

[monkeybusiness]

An acquaintance is considering buying approx 3/4 acre of land adjoining their warehouse with a view to extending their building. They only want half the land for their proposed development.

The current owner cleared the majority of this piece of land last year (although not the boundary that would need to be cleared for the warehouse extension) - there was no statutory protection on any trees but the LA received complaints and subsequent notified the Forestry Commission, as they believed that the 5m3 per quarter exemption may have been exceeded. The FC have done nothing about it, but are obviously now aware of the site. 
My acquaintance has approached the LA’s planning department for pre-app advice to get an idea of whether they would have any likelihood of gaining pp for their proposed extension - the planners apparently have a generally positive outlook towards the proposal as the land in question falls within an industrial area. Half of the site could potentially be replanted without impacting upon the proposed development and that half is where the bulk of the original trees and vegetation appeared to be when looking on google earth. 

The worry my acquaintance has is whether the FC are likely or able to put a spanner in the works if they go ahead and push forward with a planning application. As it stands there is no restocking notice (and apparently no suggestion of any sort of enforcement) - is there a time limit to this sort of thing, would PP supersede anything the FC might choose to do, is there a friendly voice within the FC who could be approached for a bit of advice without risking sterilising the site for future planing etc? 
 

[Amarus]

This suspiciously sounds like the piece of land next to our office somewhere in Devon!

 

My guess, if the FC does decide on a prosecution and slaps a restock notice on the entire area felled then your acquaintance could make a case to plant an alternative area at least equal to red line boundary of the new development within the same county. As the whole area is under an acre, EIA rules most likely would not be triggered.

Some details on restocking notices are here: 

Appeal against a restocking and enforcement notice - GOV.UK

WWW.GOV.UK

 

 

Some further reading on recent case law:

Restocking Notices under the Forestry Act 1967 and their relationship with the planning regime - No5 Barristers' Chambers

WWW.NO5.COM

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R(Smar Holdings Limited) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [2024] EWHC 2034 (Admin) Key take-aways: It is lawful to impose a requirement on a tree...

 

I don't think the presence of a restocking notice would be game stopper for a planning permission but the cost of expert advice on how to navigate these waters might be substantial.

 

Your best bet is calling the local WO for an honest chat. Most of these people actually try to help, if they can, particularly when they are being approached proactively rather than after the event.  

 

The fly in the ointment is, however, the most likely overzealous application of the new BNG rules. Even if the FC says we aren't bothered the council bods might take a very different view: The site was green up until very recently, trees are now gone, suspiciously right before the planning application went in therefore we assume it was the most valuable woodland that ever existed, go and compensate.