pelerin

I am surprised that the FC has allowed replanting with larch as a condition of the felling licence. Have they? With phytopthera ramorum everywhere now the Woodland Officers in the north of England won’t sanction it. It would be interesting if you did go into the reasoning behind the scheme, it looks like a waste of good crop felling it so early in its life.

A bridleway has to be of a standard for normal traffic, which is people and horses. It isn’t a particularly high standard. Bicycles are a modern addition to their use and just a pain on a lot of bridleways. There’s nothing to say that a bridleway cannot be used for forestry with landowners permission but it cannot be used exclusively for forestry without a temporary closure that is both expensive and will delay your start. Avoid one if you can. You could use good and comprehensive signage as mentioned, cyclists dismount would be good one. Use a banksman when on the right of way asking people to wait if there’s a temporary obstruction and be prepared in the event that someone won’t wait - because they don’t have to. Maybe make friends with the footpaths officer at the LA and let them know where you’re working. That way if anyone causes a fuss they can say they are aware and call you first. Be prepared to use a digger to keep the track reasonable and not trashed while you’re on site. Then again it’ll probably rain for the duration and you won’t see a soul.

Touché. So would I, but perhaps not the best tax advice.

The point is that the man getting his hands dirty isn’t getting the profit he should. Someone is making a big markup by simply hauling, storing for a year in a shed and selling. Taking income tax into account may mean it is more profitable to sell in the round, plus it could free up time for more specialist enterprises.

Ok, and that means an even bigger markup from wholesale to retail price.

First post on here. This is an excellent thread and TVI you are doing some great work on a big scale. We’ve got a small piece of coppice, mainly alder with some big veteran oaks, that we were lucky enough to buy recently. Nothing on this scale though, and not designated ASNW, but there’s a lot to take away from this thread, and this forum as a whole. Thanks everyone. My paid work includes looking after land for landowners and I’m reasonably familiar with Countryside Stewardship grants, the foibles of owners, and most of the time their obsession with shooting over woodland management. TVI you are very lucky to have an owner who can see beyond the next 1st October. One thing I wanted to note was about tax. I think it is mentioned some way back in this thread, but timber sold in the round at roadside should not attract income tax. Something to think about when you are selling processed firewood wholesale perhaps? In effect you are instantly losing 20% (40% if you are selling enough of it...) as a cost of sale. This really should be considered when calculating the price you are selling it for by the bag. I have seen dumpy bags of seasoned firewood advertised delivered for £115. That’s £95.83+VAT. (People do pay this much!). It’s worth an hour on a spreadsheet to work out your hourly equivalent rate for all that processing, and include the tax you pay HMRC! (By 31 January) P