Do I need a felling licence? A plain-English guide.

If you are worried about a felling licence for a tree in your garden, you almost certainly do not need one. The garden exemption is broad, and it covers most homeowners I meet in Heathfield, Battle and Crowborough.

But there is one thing that does catch people out, and it is not the felling licence at all. It is a Tree Preservation Order, or a conservation area. Those are a separate system, and they protect the exact garden trees the felling licence lets off the hook. So let me walk through both.

The short answer

A felling licence comes from the Forestry Commission, under the Forestry Act 1967. In general, you need one to fell growing trees.

The reason most people never touch the system is the list of exemptions. Trees in a garden are exempt. Small volumes are exempt. Dead, dangerous and nuisance trees are exempt. Between them, those cover the everyday work I do on domestic gardens across East Sussex.

So a normal garden tree, felled by a qualified tree surgeon, almost never needs a felling licence. Larger work on woodland, paddocks or land beyond the garden is where a licence can genuinely apply.

When you DO need a felling licence

The system turns on volume. You may fell up to 5 cubic metres per calendar quarter without a licence. Of that, no more than 2 cubic metres may be sold. Go above either figure and you need a licence.

Five cubic metres is a fair amount of standing timber. A single mature tree can approach it, and a cluster of trees on a paddock or a strip of woodland will pass it. That is the point at which I stop and check before any saw comes out.

You are more likely to need a licence when the trees sit on woodland, a field, or land beyond the domestic garden, and when there are several of them rather than one. If your job looks like that, tell me, and I will factor the licence timeline into the plan.

When you don’t

Most homeowners are covered by one exemption or another. No licence is needed for:

• Trees growing in a garden.
• Fruit trees, or trees in an orchard, churchyard or public open space.
• Trees below 8cm in diameter, measured 1.3m above the ground.
• Thinnings below 10cm in diameter.
• Coppice or underwood below 15cm in diameter.
• Dead trees.
• Trees that are dangerous, or causing a nuisance.
• Felling to comply with an Act of Parliament.
• Small volumes, within the 5 cubic metre quarterly limit above.

Two of those are narrower than they sound, and they are the ones people lean on hardest. “Dangerous” means a real and present risk, not a tree you have decided you would rather not have. “Nuisance” is a legal term, closer to a tree actually damaging something than to one dropping leaves on your car. If you fell on one of those grounds, the burden is on you to show it applied, after the fact. I photograph and record the condition before the saw comes out for exactly that reason.

The garden exemption is the one that covers the majority of jobs I get called to, and it needs no arguing. If the tree is in your garden, the felling licence is very rarely the thing standing in your way.

The thing that actually catches people out: TPOs and conservation areas

Here is the part worth reading twice. A felling licence and a Tree Preservation Order are two completely separate systems. Being exempt from one tells you nothing about the other.

Your garden tree is exempt from the felling licence. That same tree can still carry a Tree Preservation Order, or sit inside a conservation area, and those protections do not care that the felling licence let it go. A TPO or a conservation area is the thing that actually stops the average homeowner, not the Forestry Commission.

It gets one step trickier. On a larger tree, you can need both a felling licence and TPO consent on the same tree. Clearing the volume rule does not clear the TPO, and clearing the TPO does not clear the volume rule. They run in parallel.

So before any tree comes down, the real question is usually not the felling licence. It is whether the tree is protected by a TPO or a conservation area. You can check if your tree is protected with our free checker, which flags conservation areas automatically and points you at the right council for the TPO check.

For the detail on how those protections work, read the TPO and Section 211 explainer, and for the wider picture, the tree law in England guide. If your tree is protected, that is fine. I handle the protected tree work and file the council paperwork on your behalf before we start.

What happens if you fell without a licence

Felling without a licence you were required to hold is an offence. It is worth taking seriously, because the consequences land on the person who owns the land.

The Forestry Commission can issue a restocking notice. That is a legal requirement to replant, and to look after the new trees for a set period, on your own land and at your own cost. There are fines on top of that, and for larger unlawful felling they can be substantial.

Ancient woodland and veteran trees deserve real care and are a red flag. If you are anywhere near that kind of ground, do not guess. A short check before the work costs nothing. Getting it wrong is expensive and, on old trees, cannot be undone.

The short version

• A felling licence comes from the Forestry Commission, under the Forestry Act 1967.
• You can fell up to 5 cubic metres per quarter without one. No more than 2 of those may be sold.
• Garden trees, fruit trees, dead trees, dangerous trees and small trees are all exempt.
• So a normal garden tree almost never needs a felling licence.
• A TPO or a conservation area is a separate system, and it can protect the same garden tree.
• On a big tree you can need both a felling licence and TPO consent at once.
• Fell without a required licence and you risk a restocking notice and a fine.

If you have a tree you want down anywhere around Rye, Wadhurst or the villages between, and you are not sure where you stand, ask me. I am NPTC qualified, work to BS3998 and carry £5m public liability, and I check the protections before we touch the tree. Request a quote and I will tell you plainly what applies.