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Woods and the law

Taxing death

Since the new Labour government’s Halloween horror show budget last month, the farming sector has been in turmoil. Up to now, farms have mostly escaped inheritance tax on land and equipment, with a mixture of Agricultural Property Relief (ARP) and Business Property Relief (BPR). Suddenly, they are faced with a 20% tax on death after the first million pounds. They’re being told to give their property to their children, make sure they don’t die within seven years (or they will still have to pay inheritance tax), and find some way to fund their remaining years because if they carry on running the farm as before then HMRC won’t accept it has been given away at all. Or set up some complicated and irreversible trust or company structure to avoid it, with consequential and ongoing fees to accountants and solicitors to make sure they don’t fall foul of the ever changing tax rules, and hope the government doesn’t kick the stool away from that too next year.

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Woodland planning reform

I’ve written about the practicalities of woodland planning over the years and created an extensive guide to the legal situation on the Century Wood website. But here I’m going to present a “shopping list” of what changes I’d like to see.

There is a lot of emphasis on woodland creation at the moment. The benefits of woodland that are promoted include “boosting wildlife, providing shelter for livestock, preventing soil erosion, reducing flooding, providing timber, supporting the economy, and improving mental health and wellbeing.” Those benefits rely on appropriate management, including human interventions which replace the actions of species we removed in the past.

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Response to the England Tree Strategy Consultation

I’ve been writing a response to this year’s England Tree Strategy Consultation. This is the essentially the final draft, which I will submit before the deadline on the 11th:  TreeStrategy2020Response.pdf

I focus on three problems with the planning system and the the new firewood regulations:

  • Consistent national guidelines for the minimum size of sheds, barns etc which will be viewed as reasonably necessary for forestry.
  • Processing wood into finished products should be classed within the definition of forestry, when using wood from the same woodland.
  • Woodland-based education should be classed as forestry.
  • The legal requirement to join the Woodsure auditing scheme at the cost of hundreds of pounds a year will wipe out any profit for many small woodland owners.

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Regulating wet firewood

Woodfuel has been in the news the last few days following the government’s announcement about restrictions on selling firewood to domestic users in England. What they’re trying to do is worthwhile, but the proposals raise some issues for owners of small woodlands. I believe there need to be exemptions for people selling less than about 50 cubic metres of firewood per year. Otherwise the regulations will inhibit small woodlands’ role in fighting climate change and attempts to bring half of England’s native woodlands back into management.

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