Log Store

[Landpikey]

One final point is that the log store is also used to store our log splitter, small tractor & trailer and ancillaries to facilitate our woodland management.
Positive feedback would be appreciated
Thank you

Sorry it isn't as positive as you perhaps want, but it does seem that you are claiming for "log store" when in fact the majority of space would appear to be taken up by tools/equipment. The planner may view it that you are using it as a "shed/garage" rather than storing that equipment at your house.

Add to that the fact that it is only 0.75 Hectares and I can see the point of the planners that the logs are for your use and not for making a going concern of a business. The charcoal suggestion may be a possibility but unless you commit to buying bags or generally making an attempt to show you are building a business then I still don't think the planners will believe you.

On the plus point, most people on the forum don't live as close to their woods as you do so it does sound fantastic. Keep your hopes up as everyone on here knows how hard it can be when planners are involved but sometimes they do vote in our favour!

[Landpikey]

Forestry commission guidelines state we are legally allowed to sell 8 cubic metres per year.
Thank you

From the Forestry Commision website;
You do not need a licence:

to fell less than 5 cubic metres in a calendar quarter (Please note that you cannot sell more than 2 cubic metres in a calendar quarter)
for trees that have the following diameters when measured 1.3 metres from the ground
8 cm or less
10 cm or less for thinnings
15cm or less for cutting coppice

As a general question to the forum, if you sell to friends/neighbours - how forcibly is the 2 cubic metres/quarter for sale worked? That isn't much wood to sell if any owners want their wood to start paying towards it's upkeep/purchase!!!

[oldclaypaws]

If you have a good reason to fell more, such as restoring a neglected wood or clearing conifers, you just need to apply for a felling license and you'll be allowed to fell the agreed quantity. The permitted volumes are a guide to what is considered a nominal ongoing annual amount for personal use that won't affect the character of a woodland.

Its there to protect woods from uncontrolled mismanagement. If you have a valid reason to fell more and a suitable plan, there is no problem getting a felling licence. I have a verbal indication prior to a site visit I'll be allowed to fell 250 cu metres of Oak, or 50 large trees- but then my motivation is to ensure a regeneration of the wood, with a new crop of different appropriate trees planted to replace the crowded Oaks.

If a building is used for storing vehicles, equipment and tools and your house is very close by, it does start to sound as if by degrees its a 'shed' on a smaller area than is allowed for agricultural tool sheds (2 hectares). It always pays to check with planners prior to doing something to see what's permitted, particularly in a sensitive location.

[SimonFisher]

Forestry commission guidelines state we are legally allowed to sell 8 cubic metres per year.

In case anyone was wondering, the Forestry Commission's information on felling is at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/treefellingaugust.pdf/$FILE/treefellingaugust.pdf and is enforecable by the Forestry Act 1967. The exemptions, including the quarterly (not annual) allowances are at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1967/10/section/9.

[oldclaypaws]

Forestry commission guidelines state we are legally allowed to sell 8 cubic metres per year.

A fuller answer would be 'that is the minimum you can fell annually without a license, but provided you have an agreed long term plan including replanting, anything reasonable which includes replanting is permissible, including commercial production of timber or wood fuel'.

There are estates that grow and fell thousands of cu metres per year, it just has to be agreed. The implication that woods are untouchable could not be further from the truth, you just need to be seen to have an agreed sensible strategy for the woodland and your own long term plan.

It can be seen to be officious, but it does make some sense in terms of protecting woods from poor management and unsustainable felling.

In reality, if you fell modest amounts of firewood on a small woodland to sell and it quickly recovers but goes a fraction over the 2 cu metres quota, you are highly unlikely to get pulled. Fell 500 acres of ancient woodland and stick houses on it without any permissions, and you'll be rightly crucified.

[Cassie]

Sorry folks but we really are moving away from my post of the 24th September I think the latter posts should be raised under a "New Topic" regarding "How many cubic metres can I fell/sell per year!
Thank you

[Cassie]

What I really don't understand is why a pile of logs in the woods covered with tarpaulin to be used as domestic fuel is not classed as change of use, but if I put them in a shelter to dry this is classed as change of use! no reference to the building whatsoever just the fact the logs are being used as domestic fuel. I am positive there is a way around this but planners are keeping schtum, I feel very aggrieved and on principal would like to take it to my local MP, no longer a money issue just petty bureaucracy which I feel the need to challenge, but if I rattle their cage too much they just might tell us to dismantle it.....just because they can!!

[SimonFisher]

What I really don't understand is why a pile of logs in the woods covered with tarpaulin to be used as domestic fuel is not classed as change of use, but if I put them in a shelter to dry this is classed as change of use! no reference to the building whatsoever just the fact the logs are being used as domestic fuel.

A pile of logs in the woods covered with a tarpaulin isn't a structure.

It looks to me that you have constructed a permanent building and have failed to persuade the local authority that it's required for forestry purposes who instead have taken the view that it is a large shed for domestic purposes on land that isn't currently designated for domestic use - thus suggesting change of use of the land.

An agreed management plan with the Forestry Commission would support your case that this is a genuine forestry operation.

[SimonFisher]

Cassie

Just looking through the older posts on this thread and I can't help but think your local authority planners may think you're trying to pull a fast one to get a large garden shed on agricultural land next to your garden. Your wood is quite small at 0.75 hectares to support a sustainable firewood business and you've built what appears to me to be quite a large building supposedly as a log store yet by your own admission is also to house a tractor and other equipment. I can't see anywhere you say you've agreed a management plan with the Forestry Commission so you're limited to what you can fell and sell. To me it just doesn't add up to a viable forestry operation. So I can see why your planners are concerned.

I can understand you perhaps thinking they're being petty and bureaucratic but maybe they've come to learn that a zero-tolerance approach to infringements is the only way to keep things properly in check.

I wish you luck and I'm sure everyone here will help you where possible ... but stand back and look at the facts.


Simon

[oldclaypaws]

Sorry, but you do seem to be a bit 'boxed in' by this one now that you've revealed the full picture. As Simon says, you've built a shed on an area smaller than where you are normally permitted to under agricultural rules. If you'd done so in your garden, it wouldn't be so sensitive, or if indeed it was just a loose 'cover' over the logs. I can't see an answer that gives what you want other than accepting you've unwittingly breached the guidelines and will have to relocate the shed to the garden or keep loose log heaps in the wood and the equipment in a garage type structure within the bounds of your domestic property. An irritation I'm sure, but I suspect you'll have to reluctantly accept in due course you've contravened the planning guidelines, albeit innocently.