Illegal tree felling in England will be punishable by unlimited fines and prison sentences from 1 January, the government has announced. The current fine, established by the Forestry Act 1967, is £2,500 or twice the value of the timber, whichever is higher. However, the development value of land has been the main driver of illegal felling in recent years.
To deter property developers from illegally flattening trees and accepting paltry penalties as a cost of doing business, the Forestry Act 1967 will be amended by the Environment Act to allow uncapped fines. The Environment Act passed into law in November 2021, although its provisions against illegal tree felling are not yet in force.
Under existing laws, illegally felling 12 oak trees, all about 150 years old, attracted a fine of just £15,000 in January 2020. The case, prosecuted at Hastings magistrates court, was remarkable for resulting in one of the biggest fines in recent years.
“These new powers will hit people where it hurts – in their wallets,” said the Forestry Commission’s chief executive, Richard Stanford. “By guaranteeing that illegal felling is no longer a financially viable option for offenders, these measures are a significant step forward in the fight against this offence and will help in our endeavours to fight the climate emergency and nature crisis.”
The changes also mean a failure to replant illegally felled trees after a court’s restocking order could result in a prison sentence. Selling land developed through illegal felling will also be made less lucrative, with restocking notices and enforcement notices listed on the local land charges register – potentially reducing the land’s value in the eyes of buyers.
However, critics question whether the harsh penalties will be meted out often enough to be an effective deterrent. Last month the Guardian revealed only 15 of 4,002 alleged illegal felling cases reported to the Forestry Commission resulted in a successful conviction between 2012-13 to 2021-22. The Forestry Commission said its count of alleged wrongdoing is inflated by members of the public misreporting, and exemptions apply in the majority of cases flagged up.
