Appeal the conditions or refusal of a felling licence
Updated 24 November 2025
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2025
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-appeal-a-decision-by-the-forestry-commission/appeal-the-conditions-or-refusal-of-a-felling-licence
If an approved felling licence has replanting conditions applied to it and you are not happy with them, you should initially contact your local Woodland Officer and discuss the issue.
However, if you are still unhappy with the conditions applied to your felling licence, you can appeal those conditions in writing to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, as provided for in section 16 of the Forestry Act 1967.
You may also appeal against the refusal of a felling licence to the Secretary of State, but only if you have been refused a licence twice for the same area and work proposals. Additionally, there must be at least 3 years between our first and subsequent refusal.
How do I appeal?
Submit your appeal online to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs using the Defra contact form.
You can upload files up to 50MB in size using the contact form.
If you are submitting supporting documents that exceed 50MB, use the contact form to indicate they are too large to upload.
Defra will contact you with instructions on how to submit your documents.
You may submit a hard copy of your appeal to:
Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Seacole Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
We strongly recommend that you send a copy of your appeal to the Forestry Commission. This helps ensure your submission is acknowledged.
Send by email to: commissioners@forestrycommission.gov.uk.
You may submit a hard copy of your appeal to:
Commissioners’ Office
Forestry Commission
620 Bristol Business Park
Coldharbour Lane
Bristol
BS16 1EJ
What happens after I submit an appeal?
The appeal will be handled in accordance with the procedures set out in the Forestry Act 1967 and will ultimately be decided by the Secretary of State.