Amend your forest management plan
You may be able to make some changes to your forest management plan such as:
- updating contact or ownership details
- amending your work programme (technical amendment)
- changing felling licence conditions
Updating contact or ownership details
A felling permission issued as part of your approved management plan applies to the land regardless of its owner. It remains in force, along with any conditions, after the land is sold.
Any areas felled must be restocked and maintained for 10 years. If you sell your land, you must let us know when it was sold and the new owner's details. You must also inform the new owner about the felling permission.
Tell us what you want to change
Making amendments to your work programme (technical amendments)
Given the longer term nature of your forest management plan, we recognise that you may need to make amendments to your work programme.
Your land management agreement includes a 'tolerance table' describing the amendment categories that apply to your plan.
Amendment categories
There are 3 categories of technical amendment, designed to give you operational flexibility while delivering your forest management plan.
The categories apply at coupe level to thinning, felling and restocking operations.
Category 1
You do not need to notify us of category 1 amendments. These can be carried out without approval from us. Keep records of any amendments and include them in your year 5 review form.
Category 2
You must notify us of category 2 amendments you want to make.
If we consider that the proposed amendment does not meet the requirements of the UK Forestry Standard, we may need you to submit additional evidence or complete a category 3 request for formal amendment. Examples include:
- where further spatial mapping may be needed to assess the impact of felling proposals in areas prone to flooding
- where water catchment thresholds need to be assessed to ensure that critical load assessments are completed
- where biodiversity records are not publicly available
Tell us what you want to change
Category 3
You must notify us that you want to make a category 3 amendment. We will send you a form to apply for formal amendment.
We will determine whether your amendment needs to go back on the public register.
Tell us what you want to change
Changing the conditions of an approved felling permission
There may be occasions where the conditions of your approved felling permission are no longer appropriate. For example, the site conditions may have changed since felling or the restocking may have partially failed leaving open space.
There is no provision in the Forestry Act 1967 to amend the conditions of a felling permission but where appropriate we may choose to do so based on the public law principles of reasonableness, consideration of the relevant facts, and where both parties fully agree to the amendment.
You must notify us if you want to change the conditions. We will consider your request and, if appropriate, work with you to agree an amendment.
Your amendment may need to go back on the public register depending on the scale or nature or your proposed operations.