Guidance

Definition of trees and woodland

Guidance on the Forestry Commission’s interpretation of trees and woodland for the purposes of felling licences and forestry environmental impact assessments.

• From: Forestry Commission
• Published: 15 January 2024
• Last updated: 11 March 2025 — See all updates

Applies to England

• Publication for Northern Ireland
• Publication for Scotland
• Publication for Wales

Documents

Definition of trees and woodland

HTML

Details

This page outlines the Forestry Commission’s interpretation of “tree” and “woodland”.

Published 15 January 2024

Last updated 11 March 2025 + show all updates

1. 11 March 2025

   Added palm trees to the list of non-tree species exemptions.

2. 25 October 2024

   Changed footnotes linked to the UK Forestry Standard, from 4th to 5th edition.

3. 21 August 2024

   Scenario 1 in section 5.6 was amended to confirm an EIA is not required.

4. 15 January 2024

   First published.