Apply online for a felling licence
Use this guide to apply for a licence to fell growing trees using our Felling Licence Online service
Applies to England
How to apply
Use Felling Licence Online to create and submit your application for a felling licence. You can apply for a licence that can be granted for up to 5 years (a standalone licence), or you can obtain a 10 year felling licence through agreeing a woodland management plan. To find out more and download a woodland management plan template, read our guide: Create a woodland management plan
Make use of the Felling Licence Online -– quick user guide to help you complete your application online. To find out more about tree felling regulations generally, read our guide Tree felling licence: when you need to apply
Getting started
If you have made a felling licence application since January 2018, please contact us before you apply for another licence using Felling Licence Online. We will be able to save you time by transferring your land profile (mapping and property profile data) to your user account. Email us at fellinglicenceonline@forestrycommission.gov.uk so we can arrange this for you.
Applying online for a felling licence
When using Felling Licence Online, you will need to provide the following information:
- details about you (or the applicant if you are their agent) and the land that you have an interest in felling trees on
- a completed Agent Authority Form (if you are an agent applying on behalf of your client). This form should be uploaded in Felling Licence Online and will give the agent permission to submit the felling licence application and agree any restocking conditions (where applicable). This only needs to be done once for each land owner
- map information, showing trees and woodland on the property, which is then used to create areas where proposed felling will take place that shows the extent of where the proposed felling will take place
- once you have created an online map, known as a property profile, this can be reused when creating any new felling licence applications
- details of the felling work types you are applying for, with information about the species to be felled and your proposals for restocking where restocking is required
Apply online
Guidance
Use the Felling Licence Online - user guides to help you complete and submit your felling licence application.
Video guidance
- Access Felling Licence Online
Watch the ‘Access Felling Licence Online’ video
- Create a property profile
Watch the ‘Create a property profile’ video
- Add a compartment to a property profile
Watch the ‘Add a compartment to a property profile’ video
- Apply for a felling licence using the online service
Watch the ‘Apply for a felling licence using the online service’ video
Support
If you experience problems with the system then please let us know at fellinglicenceonline@forestrycommission.gov.uk.
The benefits of applying online
We recommend using Felling Licence Online, as you can:
- create your own property profile, which you can reuse in future applications. This means no more remapping for every application
- monitor the progress of an application
- print the approved licence whenever you need a copy
If you have any questions about Felling Licence Online, please read our Felling Licence Online - quick user guide or email us at fellinglicenceonline@forestrycommission.gov.uk.
Felling Licence Online is the principal method for applying for a felling licence. If you are unable to access online systems or have other access restrictions that prevent you using this service and you require a paper felling licence application form, please contact us by telephone or post at the following address to request one:
Forestry Commission
620 Bristol Business Park
Bristol
BS16 1EJ
Telephone: 0300 067 4420
If we agree that you require a paper application form then we will provide this by post. You must give your full postal address for us to do so. Do not apply online if you request a paper application form.
Return your signed and dated application form to the address shown above along with:
- 2 signed and dated copies of a map showing the boundary of the tree felling proposals with your application
- any other supporting checklists, such as European Protected Species, or evidence of planning and stakeholder engagement that is required as part of your application
Last updated 25 March 2024 + show all updates
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Removed a note regarding the temporary downtime for maintenance work.
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Added a note about the service being offline for maintenance work between 4pm 22 March to 9am on 23 March.
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The Forestry Commission are undertaking some maintenance work within the Felling Licence Online system , we are expecting the Online system to be back up tomorrow (30 November 2022).
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Removing downtime notice.
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Addition of system downtime note.
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Addition of Coronavirus working arrangements update to the top of the page.
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Removal of Christmas contact cover information.
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Addition of support information for the Christmas period 2019.
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The following message has been added to this page: Please save your work and log out of Felling Licence Online before 12:30 on Thursday 24 October. Felling Licence Online is being updated and there is a chance that work undertaken during the update will not be saved. The system will be available to use again as normal by 1pm on Thursday 24 October. The updates are intended to improve system speed for internal and external users.
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Addition of slow service notice.
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Simplification of guide to help new users access the Felling Licence Online service.
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This following information has been added to this page: - The Felling Licence Online system will be unavailable on the morning of Tuesday 7 May.
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Addition of system downtime on the 25 April 2019.
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First published.