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Jurisdiction: United Kingdom
Commencement: 1st January 2023
Amends:
This Act sets out the general duties of the Forestry Commission (FC), its organisational structure and commissioner and staff roles. It allows the FC to manage and use any land granted to it the by the Minister, manage and supervise any woods or forests and buy and sell timber.
The main impact of the Act relates to the control over the felling of trees, Felling Licences and how they interact with Tree Preservation Orders.
A Felling Licence from the FC is required to fell growing trees, except in cases where:
A person can fell up to five cubic metres on their own property in any calendar quarter without a Felling Licence as long as no more than two cubic metres are sold.
In cases where a Felling Licence is requested in order to fell trees protected by a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) or in a conservation area the FC will consult with the local planning authority that issued the TPO before deciding whether or not to issue a Felling Licence which would overrule the TPO.
If the FC issues a Felling Licence for trees covered by a TPO or in a conservation area and the applicant has not declared the TPO or conservation area, then the Felling Licence does not cover the felling of those trees and felling them may be a criminal offence.
The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 implements key aspects of the Government’s Rural Strategy published in July 2004 and also addresses a wider range of issues relating broadly to the natural environment. The Act requires every local authority to consider the purpose of conserving biodiversity. The Secretary of State for England and National Assembly for Wales, are required to publish a list of the living organisms and types of habitat which are of principle importance for the purpose of conserving biodiversity.
Various duties apply.
The following provisions of the 2021 Act come into force on 1st January 2023.
These provisions require a public authority* to set out biodiversity objectives and publish biodiversity reports.
*Public authority means an authority whose functions are of a public nature.
Lastly, duties are imposed on the Forestry Commission and Natural Resources Wales regarding the enforcement of tree felling and restocking notices.
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Jurisdiction: Scotland
Commencement: 10th November 2021
Amends:
The following exemptions are available:
These exemptions are for felling on, or on behalf of, the land owner unless otherwise stated.
Minor technical changes are made to the definition of ‘statutory undertaker’ to fix a typographical error.
Regulation 6 is inserted which introduces a requirement to gain permission before any trees that are part of a peatland restoration project are felled.
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Jurisdiction: England, Scotland
Commencement: 15th July 2021
Amends: The Plant Health (Fees) (Forestry) (England and Scotland) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/350)
The Plant Health (Fees) (Forestry) (England and Scotland) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/350) revoke and replace The Plant Health (Fees) (Forestry) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/2697) (as amended) in relation to England and Wales.
The Regulations implement fees that will be charged for:
Schedule 3A in the 2006 Regulations (inserted by the 2008 amendment) set out reduced frequency of inspection fees for plant health checks of Canadian maple wood. This reduced frequency of inspections no longer applies and such consignments are no longer eligible for reduced rate fees. All other fees remain the same as they were in the now revoked The Plant Health (Fees) (Forestry) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/2697) as amended.
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