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Felling a tree from a Gravesend hedge: the Forestry Act 1967 licence, the garden exemption, and the checks that matter on rural land in Gravesham

Most people I speak to assume that any tree in their garden is theirs to remove at will. The Forestry Act 1967 says otherwise as the baseline. The garden exemption in that Act covers most domestic hedgerow trees in Gravesend and Northfleet, but the critical word in that sentence is "domestic": a tree growing out of a field-boundary hedge in Higham or Cobham is not covered by the same exemption, and the penalty for felling without a licence is not a civil matter.

What the law says

Part II, section 9 of the Forestry Act 1967 establishes the general rule: a felling licence issued by the Forestry Commission is required before any person can fell a growing tree in England. This is the starting position. The licence regime exists independently of Tree Preservation Orders and the section 211 conservation area notification system, and it applies to all trees, not just named or protected species, not just trees above a certain size, and not just trees on agricultural land.

The penalty for felling without a licence where one is required sits in section 17 of the Act. GOV.UK says that everyone involved in the felling can be prosecuted, and that the fine is unlimited. If you rely on an exemption, you need to be able to prove that it applied, so keep photos, maps and any permissions.

One important clarification: the Act's felling licence requirement applies to felling. Topping, lopping, and trimming or laying of hedges are explicitly outside the felling licence regime. You do not need a felling licence to cut back, shape or hard-trim a hedge, even a tall or mature one. Removing a tree entirely, cutting at ground level or close to it, is felling. That distinction matters when a hedge contains mature ash or oak standards: trimming those stems back is hedge work; taking them out at the base requires the checks below.

The three exemptions most relevant to Gravesend

1. The garden exemption

The Forestry Act 1967 exempts the felling of trees growing in a garden, orchard, churchyard or public open space. For the purposes of this exemption, "garden" means land that forms part of or belongs to a dwelling-house, broadly the domestic curtilage. A tree growing in a back garden in Gravesend, Northfleet or any of the Gravesham towns is almost certainly exempt under this provision.

The exemption does not extend to trees on agricultural land, land used commercially, or undeveloped land adjacent to a domestic property but not forming part of its curtilage. In the Gravesham villages, the boundary between a garden curtilage and field or orchard land can be unclear, particularly on older properties in Higham, Chalk, Shorne, Cobham and Meopham. If there is any doubt about whether a particular tree stands in the domestic garden or on agricultural land, the safe approach is to treat the felling licence as required until the position is confirmed.

2. The small-tree exemption

A licence is needed only for trees with an over-bark diameter of 8 centimetres or more, measured at 1.3 metres from the ground. For coppice and underwood (multi-stemmed material cut on a rotation rather than a single-stemmed standard), the threshold is 15 centimetres diameter. Many young or recently coppiced stems in a mixed native hedgerow will fall below the 8-centimetre threshold. Mature standard trees, including the ash, oak and field maple standards common in Gravesham's hedgerows, will usually exceed it.

3. The volume exemption

A landowner may fell up to 5 cubic metres of timber per calendar quarter on land they own or occupy without a licence, provided that no more than 2 cubic metres of that total is sold. The limit is per calendar quarter, not per tree. A single large standard ash felled in one quarter may easily exceed 5 cubic metres of timber volume, in which case the exemption is spent before any further felling on that site in the same quarter.

Five checks before any tree is felled in a Gravesend hedge

Check 1: is the tree covered by a Tree Preservation Order?

Search the Gravesham Borough Council interactive planning map for TPOs at or near the property. A TPO covers a named tree or group regardless of its location, including garden trees. If a TPO is in force, written consent from Gravesham Borough Council is required before felling, regardless of the Forestry Act position. The dead-tree notice route under the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation) (England) Regulations 2012 allows a tree that is actually dead to be cut down on five working days' written notice, and urgent work to remove an immediate risk of serious harm to go ahead with notice as soon as practicable afterwards. Dying or diseased trees are not covered, and the onus to evidence the status rests with you.

Check 2: is the tree in a conservation area and over 75mm in stem diameter?

Confirm whether the address is within one of Gravesham's 23 conservation areas using the council's online map. If it is, and if the tree to be felled has a stem exceeding 75mm at 1.5 metres, a six-week written notice under section 211 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 must be submitted to Gravesham Borough Council before any cutting starts. The council may use that period to make a TPO. Contact the council's tree officer if the tree's condition means the six-week wait poses a safety risk.

Check 3: is the tree in a domestic garden or on agricultural/commercial land?

If the tree stands clearly within the domestic curtilage of a dwelling-house, the Forestry Act garden exemption applies and no felling licence is needed. If it stands on agricultural land, commercial land, or land of uncertain status adjacent to a garden, the garden exemption cannot be assumed to apply. For field-boundary hedgerow trees in the Gravesham villages, treat the felling licence as required unless the position is confirmed with the Forestry Commission beforehand.

Check 4: does the volume exemption cover what you are planning?

If the tree falls outside the garden exemption but within the same landholding as other recent felling, calculate the timber volume already felled on that land in the current calendar quarter. If the cumulative total, including the proposed felling, will remain below 5 cubic metres with no more than 2 cubic metres sold, the volume exemption applies. For a single mature standard tree in a rural hedgerow, 5 cubic metres of timber is a reasonable maximum for a medium-sized specimen: a large oak or ash can exceed this from a single stem.

Check 5: does the Hedgerow Regulations 1997 notification apply?

If felling a tree within a rural hedgerow amounts to removing part of a qualifying hedgerow under the Hedgerow Regulations 1997 (SI 1997/1160), a 42-day notification to Gravesham Borough Council is required before the removal starts. A hedgerow is protected if it is more than 20 metres long (or shorter but meeting another hedgerow at each end) and is on or next to agricultural, forestry, horse-keeping, common, village green, SSSI, nature reserve or state land. A hedge in, or marking the boundary of, a private garden is not covered. The 30-year age test applies to whether a protected hedgerow is "important". For hedgerow trees in the Gravesham countryside, this notification runs alongside any felling licence or TPO requirements: all three must be addressed before work begins.

Applying for a felling licence if one is needed

Applications for a felling licence in England are made through the Forestry Commission's online service, accessible via GOV.UK. Licences are free. The application requires the location of the trees, the species, the estimated volume, and the reason for felling. An applicant must have a legal interest in the land (freeholder, leaseholder, tenant or authorised agent).

Felling licences are normally issued with a restocking condition requiring the replanting of trees on or near the felled area, unless the site is clearly unsuitable for long-term tree cover. Where the application involves a hedgerow tree on agricultural land in Gravesham, your nearest Forestry Commission area office is the right point of contact to discuss it before you apply.

If the felling is required urgently due to storm damage, structural failure or imminent danger, the process is the same but the urgency should be stated in the application and, if contact with the Forestry Commission is possible beforehand, their advice should be sought on whether any immediate safety action can proceed prior to formal licence issue. The position on storm-damaged trees that are already dead or have snapped clear of the root system is different from a standing growing tree: a tree that has already fallen or broken above ground is no longer a "growing tree" for the purposes of the Act.

What this means in practice on a Gravesend hedge job

For a garden hedge in Gravesend or Northfleet that contains mature ash, field maple or fruit tree standards, the Forestry Act 1967 felling licence is not usually the complication: the garden exemption covers it. The complications are typically the TPO register and, in the older conservation area streets around the town centre and riverside, the section 211 six-week notice period. Those are the checks to run before any tree is felled in a Gravesend garden. I do not fell trees or remove hedges, but I can tell you which of these checks are likely to apply.

Felling licence questions come up most on rural land in the Gravesham villages: a field-boundary hedgerow on a rural property in Higham or Cobham that contains mature oak, ash or field maple standards sits outside domestic curtilage. On those sites the felling licence check is genuine, and the 42-day Hedgerow Regulations notification is often required at the same time. Both take time to process: the felling licence application and the hedgerow notification cannot be short-cut, and starting felling before either process is complete carries a real penalty risk. Rural hedgerow tree removal is a multi-stage process, not a single day's work that can be arranged a week in advance.

Sources: Forestry Act 1967, Part II, sections 9 and 17; GOV.UK guidance "Tree felling licence: when you need to apply" and "When a felling licence is needed" (Forestry Commission, published July 2026); Town and Country Planning Act 1990, sections 198–214 and section 211; Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation) (England) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/605); Hedgerow Regulations 1997 (SI 1997/1160); Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 1.