Ancient woodlands
Areas that have been wooded continuously since at least 1600 AD
- Design stage
- On the platform
- Tags
- local plan
- Frequency of updates
- Monthly
- Discussion
- Join the discussion on GitHub
- Last updated
- 19 March 2025
Backlog
Who asked for 'Ancient woodlands' data?
This has been identified as a constraint from PlanX.
What is the driver for the request?
Specific user requirement
Which 2024 focus area does the request support?
Modern planning software;Faster local plans
Screen
What is the 'Ancient woodlands' consideration?
Areas that have been wooded continuously since at least 1600 AD.
Is there legislation that defines 'Ancient woodlands'?
Yes
What is the legislation that defines 'Ancient woodlands'?
Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, Section 136 - “the Secretary of State must vary the Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England) Direction 2021 (“the 2021 Direction”) so that it applies in relation to applications for planning permission for development affecting ancient woodland.”
This Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England) Direction 2021 was updated in January 2024, and states that “where a local planning authority does not propose to refuse an application for planning permission to which this Direction applies, the authority shall consult the Secretary of State.”
There is also guidance: Ancient woodland, ancient trees and veteran trees: advice for making planning decisions
What is the specific part of the legislation that describes how a 'Ancient woodlands' gets designated?
There is no legislation covering how ancient woodland gets designated.
A practice guide has been produced by the Forestry Commission on “managing ancient and native woodland in England” which covers assessment and monitoring in chapter one.
What is the specific part of the legislation that requires the publication of 'Ancient woodlands'?
There is no legislation that requires the publication of ancient woodland data, but the NPPF states that:
“Development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats (such as ancient woodland and ancient or veteran trees) should be refused, unless there are wholly exceptional reasons and a suitable compensation strategy exists.”
The guidance on ancient woodland also states that:
“Ancient woodland, ancient trees and veteran trees are irreplaceable. Therefore, you should not consider proposed compensation measures as part of your assessment of the merits of the development proposal.”
This points at the importance of ancient woodland as part of the planning process and having this data published.
Who, in law, is responsible for the planning consideration or makes decisions about 'Ancient woodlands'?
Forestry Commission (GOV.UK, not legislative)
Which organisations do we think should publish the data?
Forestry Commission;Natural England;Woodland Trust
Is the Ancient woodlands a trigger?
Yes
What needs to be done because Ancient woodlands has acted as the trigger?
As per the guidance, “development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats (such as ancient woodland and ancient or veteran trees) should be refused, unless there are wholly exceptional reasons and a suitable compensation strategy exists.”
Is the Ancient woodlands something to consult during plan making?
Yes
Provide information about when Ancient woodlands is used during plan making
Further research is required to confirm whether ancient woodland data would be consulted in the assessment of whether a wholly exceptional reason is present.
Is there any Ancient woodlands data already available?
Yes
What Ancient woodlands data is currently available?
- Natural England (coverage: National; licence: Use of this data is subject to the Open Government Licence; fields: NAME;THEM;THEMNAME;THEMID;STATUS;PERIMETER;AREA X_COORD;Y_COORD;Shape_Area;Shape_Length)
- Natural England (coverage: National; licence: Open Government Licence)
Do we think the data should come from a single source?
Yes - Natural England produce this data
Will a data standard be required?
No
Research
Do we understand the lifecycle of a Ancient woodlands?
No
Do we understand how the data is created/produced?
We do not know how this data is created, further research is required.
Where will or should the data be used?
Planning authorities will be able to see and react very quickly to applications based in areas that have ancient woodland, which would essentially be off-limits, whilst also making the composition of their local plans faster as it will immediately remove some sites from the allocation process.
What other planning considerations does it interact with?
- Ancient and veteran trees
- Local plans - Ancient woodland is referenced a number of times in local plans, so we think that this consideration feeds into the process of creating a local plan.
From what we have learnt so far are there any risks to making Ancient woodlands data available?
N / A