General Felling License waiting period

TomOnBoard

I applied for a General Felling License at the end of August, and apart from a confirmation from the Forest Service that they had received the application, I have not heard a dicky bird since.

If I don't hear back within 6 weeks, am I entitled to proceed? In particular I need to cut some firewood asap.

Oldtree

I had understood the waiting period to be 21 days, but I might have gotten the wrong end of the stick:

http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/treefelling/legalrequirementsfortreefelling/

nonetheless I would ring these people to get the contact number of your local inspector just to make sure all is ok, it may go against you in your felling licence if you fell before its ratified.

http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/treefelling/treefelling/

why the rush to fell firewood, it wont be dry for use this year?

Rovi

I applied for a General Felling Licence on 1st December 2011.
I received an acknowledgement letter dated 16th December 2011.
I received the General Felling Licence the following March, dated 8th March 2012.

So, approximately 3 months from application to having the Licence in my hand.

Incidentally, the acknowledgement letter VERY specifically stated (in bold type):

Please note that this letter is not a guarantee that a felling licence will be granted.
Please also note that no felling operations should take place until a licence issues to you, in the post or electronically. Any felling taking place before a licence is issued is illegal under the Forestry Act 1946 and could result in criminal proceedings being brought against you.

I'm presuming the OP's acknowledgement letter also included this piece of boiler plate text???

Moocifer

No felling can take place until the licence issues and it can take up to 12 weeks for that to happen.

The 21 days mentioned refers to Prohibition orders with Limited Felling Licences. Nothing to do with General Felling Licences

Oldtree

to be very specific (I too got a Prohibition order) is it correct to say that if you don't recieve a Prohibition order in 21 days from lodging a felling notice, away you can go? Thats what I thought the op meant, oops

The wording on the Forestry website below says

"The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine advise that, under Section 37 of the Forestry Act, 1946, it is illegal to uproot any tree over ten years old or to cut down any tree of any age (including trees which form part of a hedgerow), unless a Felling Notice has been lodged at the Garda Station nearest to the trees at least 21 days before felling commences"

http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/treefelling/legalrequirementsfortreefelling/

I guess you would need a photocopy of the felling licence application stamped and signed by the garda on the day of submission as a form of proof if you were going to fell without recieving a felling licence or a Prohibition order.

periodictable

Ring the felling section of the Forest Service. These guys are usually on the ball and extremely helpful.