Forestry Act 2014

• (e) the prevention of the destruction of forests by fire, and

• (f) ensuring that the integrity of the national forest estate is maintained.

• (9) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (8), regulations under that subsection may—

• (a) contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary for the purposes of the regulations (including provisions repealing, amending or applying, with or without modification, other law, exclusive of this section, the European Communities Act 1972 and the European Communities Act 2007),

• (b) make provision in relation to the establishment and maintenance of such registers, and keeping of such records, as may be specified in the regulations,

• (c) apply either generally or to such class or classes of trees, persons, places or activities as may be specified in the regulations, and

• (d) prescribe persons to perform the functions of a competent authority for the purposes of the regulations and the provision of the treaties governing the European Union or act adopted by an institution of the European Union to which the regulations give effect.

PART 10 Miscellaneous

31. Repeal of Forestry Act 1946, etc.

31. (1) The Forestry Act 1946 is repealed.

• (2) Section 39 of the Wildlife Act 1976 is amended by substituting for subsection (6) the following:

• “(6) In this section ‘wood’ includes a forest within the meaning of section 2 of the Forestry Act 2014.”

• (3) The Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 is amended by substituting for section 4(4)(h) the following:

• “(h) a licence granted under section 7 of the Forestry Act 2014.”

32. Compensation for refusal of felling licence, etc

32. (1) The Minister shall, as soon as practicable after the commencement of this section, make regulations providing for the payment by the Minister of compensation to a person in a case where an application by the person for a licence—

• (a) to fell or otherwise remove trees,

• (b) to undertake forest road works, or

• (c) to undertake afforestation,

is refused, but only if that refusal has been the subject of appeal and that refusal has been upheld on the appeal, or appeals, being finally disposed of.

• (2) Regulations under this section shall not be made otherwise than with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

• (3) Without prejudice to the subsequent provisions of this section, a payment of compensation under regulations under this section shall not be made otherwise than on foot of an application in that behalf made to the Minister, being an application that is—

• (a) in the form directed by the Minister to be used for the time being for this purpose, and

• (b) made—

• (i) not earlier than before such time or the happening of such event as is specified in the regulations, nor

• (ii) later than such time or the happening of such event as is so specified,

and, as respects such an application, the regulations may provide that at the time of the making of it or at any subsequent time (and before the determination of the application) the applicant shall furnish to the Minister such documents or information, or such further documents or information, as the Minister may require.

• (4) Without prejudice to subsections (9) to (11) and (14), regulations under this section may contain a provision that no compensation shall be payable under the regulations where the reason for the refusal to grant the licence concerned falls within any description of reason specified in that provision for the purpose.

• (5) No description of reason shall be specified in such a provision for that purpose unless the description of reason either has, as its basis, a basis set out in subsection (6) or complies with the requirement of subsection (8) (or both has the foregoing basis and complies with that requirement).

• (6) The basis referred to in subsection (5) is one that is reasonably related to any of the following:

• (a) the protection of the environment;

• (b) the ensuring of good forestry practice;

• (c) the preservation of amenities;

• (d) public health or safety;

• (e) protection from flooding;

• (f) preservation of water quality.

• (7) In subsection (6)(b) “good forestry practice” means forestry practice that respects the principle that the diverse activities constituting forestry (including afforestation) must be planned and implemented in a manner that prevents, limits, abates or reduces significant adverse impacts or risks thereof on—

• (a) the environment (and, in particular, on significant ecosystems and important habitats for flora or fauna), and

• (b) the character of the landscape.

• (8) The requirement referred to in subsection (5) is that the description of reason concerned is expressed in terms that are identical or analogous to the terms in which a reason appearing in any paragraph of the Fourth Schedule to the Planning and Development Act 2000 is expressed in that Schedule.

• (9) Regulations under this section shall contain a provision that no compensation shall be payable under the regulations where the reason for the refusal to grant the licence concerned was that—

• (a) the application for the licence was incomplete in any material particular, or

• (b) any environmental impact statement, natura impact statement or other information submitted for the purposes of the application for the licence was, in the opinion of the Minister, inadequate.

• (10) Subject to any reasonable qualification or modification of the following provisions of this subsection that the Minister considers should be provided for in the regulations to meet particular classes of case (and without prejudice to the provisions of the regulations referred to in subsections (11) and (12)), regulations under this section shall contain the following provisions with respect to determining the amount of compensation payable under the regulations—

• (a) in the case of a refusal to grant a licence to fell or otherwise remove trees or to undertake forest road works, compensation shall be calculated on the basis of the depreciation in the value of the trees that is attributable to the deterioration in the quality of the timber as a consequence of the refusal,

• (b) in the case of a refusal to grant a licence to undertake afforestation, compensation shall be calculated on the basis of the reduction in value between the antecedent and subsequent values of the land, where—

• (i) the antecedent value of the land is the amount which the land, if sold in the open market by a willing seller immediately prior to the relevant decision (assuming that the relevant application had not been made), might have been expected to realise, and

• (ii) the subsequent value of the land is the amount which the land, if sold in the open market by a willing seller immediately after that decision, might be expected to realise.

• (11) Regulations under this section shall contain a provision—

• (a) in relation to a case referred to in subsection (10)(a), that no compensation shall be payable in respect of any deterioration in the quality of the timber that—

• (i) took place more than 10 years before the date of the application for compensation, or

• (ii) is due to any unforeseen event of a kind specified in the regulations, or neglect of the trees, occurring subsequent to the refusal of the application for the licence concerned,

• (b) that not more than one application for compensation under the regulations may be made in respect of the same parcel of land (irrespective of the type of licence under this Act applied for) in any period of 40 years.

• (12) Regulations under this section shall contain such provisions, by way of enabling abatement of sums or otherwise, as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient to prevent the result specified in subsection (13) where, under any scheme or administrative arrangement, the payment of public moneys to the applicant is provided in respect of an activity to which this Act relates.

• (13) The result mentioned in subsection (12) is that in consequence of—

• (a) the applicant’s being refused the grant of the licence concerned, and

• (b) the regulations’ operation (if the regulations did not contain the foregoing provisions and the applicant were to be paid compensation under the regulations in respect of that refusal),

the applicant would be in receipt of an amount of public moneys that is greater than the amount of such moneys that the applicant would be in receipt of if his or her application for the licence concerned had been granted.

• (14) Regulations under this section—

• (a) may provide that if the amount of compensation claimed by the applicant, or the amount of compensation determined under the regulations on foot of his or her application, (in each case after the abatement (if any) required to be made pursuant to the provision of the regulations referred to in subsection (12)), is less than such minimum amount as is specified in the regulations for the purpose, no payment of compensation in respect of that application shall be made,

• (b) may contain such incidental, consequential or supplemental provisions as the Minister considers necessary or expedient (including provision for the referral to arbitration of the determination of the amount of any compensation payable or alleged to be payable).

33. Transitional provisions

33. (1) Subject to this section, nothing in this Act shall affect the validity of any act done or proceedings (including court proceedings) taken by the Minister under the Act of 1946.

• (2) A notice under section 37 of the Act of 1946 shall be deemed to be an application for a licence to fell or otherwise remove a tree under section 7.

• (3) Where subsection (2) applies, a prohibition order issued under the Act of 1946 shall continue in force until the relevant application has been determined.

• (4) An application for a felling licence (whether general or limited) under Part IV of the Act of 1946 shall be deemed to be an application to fell or otherwise remove a tree under section 7.

• (5) A felling licence (whether general or limited) granted under Part IV of the Act of 1946 shall be deemed to be a licence granted under this Act and, in particular, sections 7 and 17 shall apply with any necessary modifications.

34. Service of documents

34. (1) A notice or other document required to be served on, sent or given to a person under the relevant statutory provisions shall, subject to subsection (2), be addressed to the person concerned by name, and may be served on, sent or given to the person in one of the following ways:

• (a) by delivering it to the person;

• (b) by leaving it at the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case where an address for service has been furnished, at that address;

• (c) by sending it by post in a pre-paid registered letter to the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, to that address;

• (d) where the address at which the person ordinarily resides cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry and the notice or other document relates to any lands or other place of business, by delivering it to a person over the age of 16 years resident or employed at the lands or other place of business, or by affixing it in a conspicuous position at or near the lands or other place of business;

• (e) if the person concerned has agreed to service of notices by means of an electronic communication (within the meaning assigned by section 2 of the Electronic Commerce Act 2000), service by such means, provided that there is a facility for confirming receipt of electronic communication and that such receipt has been confirmed;

• (f) where there is a machine for receiving a facsimile of the notice by electronic means at the address at which the person ordinarily resides or carries on business, by transmitting a facsimile of the notice by such means to that machine, but only if the sender’s machine generates a message confirming successful transmission of the total number of pages of the notice;

• (g) by any other means that may be prescribed.

• (2) Where a notice or other document required or authorised under the relevant statutory provisions is to be served on, sent or given to a person who is the owner of lands or other place of business and the name of the person cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry, it may be addressed to the person by using the words, “the owner” or, as the case may require, “the occupier”.

• (3) For the purposes of this section, a company within the meaning of the Companies Acts shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its registered office, and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business.

PART 11 Amendment of Agriculture Appeals Act 2001

35. Amendment of Agriculture Appeals Act 2001

35. The Agriculture Appeals Act 2001 amended—

• (a) in section 5—

• (i) in subsection (1), by substituting “Schedule 1” for “the Schedule”, and

• (ii) by substituting for subsection (2) the following:

• “(2) The Minister may, for the purpose of—

  • (a) the reorganisation of schemes,

  • (b) deleting spent schemes,

  • (c) giving persons an appeal in respect of applications under schemes that may come into existence, or

  • (d) in the case of any enactments or statutory instruments, giving persons an appeal in respect of applications under enactments or statutory instruments that may be passed or made (and not for the time being set out in Schedule 2),

  amend by regulations Schedule 1 or 2, as appropriate, by adding an item to, or deleting an item from, either of those Schedules.”,

• (b) in section 7(1) by substituting “Schedule 1” for “Schedule”,

• (c) by inserting the following after section 14:

“Establishment of Forestry Appeals Committee and its function

14A. (1) The Minister shall establish a committee, which shall be known and is in this Act referred to as the Forestry Appeals Committee, consisting of a chairperson and such and so many other members (not being less than 2) as the Minister determines.

• (2) The function of the Forestry Appeals Committee shall be to hear and determine appeals specified in subsection (4).

• (3) An officer of the Minister shall be eligible for appointment as a member (including as chairperson) of the Forestry Appeals Committee but, in a case where a majority (or all) of the members of the Committee are such officers, a majority of such officers shall be of a grade senior to the grade of the officer who made the decision, the subject of the appeal to the Committee.

• (4) Where a person is dissatisfied with a decision made by the Minister or an officer of the Minister under an enactment or statutory instrument set out in Schedule 2, he or she may appeal to the Forestry Appeals Committee against the decision and, on the hearing of the appeal, the Committee may confirm, cancel or vary the decision as it thinks fit.

• (5) The decision of the Forestry Appeals Committee on such an appeal shall, subject to subsection (6), be final and conclusive.

• (6) Any person dissatisfied with a decision of the Forestry Appeals Committee may appeal that decision to the High Court on any question of law.”,

• (d) by renumbering the Schedule as Schedule 1 and inserting the following Schedule after it:

“Schedule 2

Section 7 of the Forestry Act 2014

Regulation 3 of the European Communities (Forest Consent and Assessment) Regulations 2010 (S.I. No. 558 of 2010)

Regulation 3 of the European Communities (Aerial Fertilisation) (Forestry) Regulations 2012 (S.I. No. 125 of 2012)”.

F12[SCHEDULE Section 2 Native tree species Common Name Scientific Name Alder Alnus glutinosa Strawberry tree Arbutus unedo Silver birch Betula pendula Downy birch Betula pubescens Hazel Corylus avellana Ash Fraxinus excelsior Holly Ilex aquifolium Crab apple Malus sylvestris Scots pine Pinus sylvestris Black poplar Populus nigra Aspen Populus tremula Wild cherry Prunus avium Bird cherry Prunus padus Sessile oak Quercus petraea Pedunculate oak Quercus robur Goat willow Salix caprea Grey willow Salix cinerea Bay willow Salix pentandra English whitebeam Sorbus anglica Whitebeam Sorbus aria Rowan Sorbus aucuparia Irish whitebeam Sorbus hibernica Rock whitebeam Sorbus rupicola Yew Taxus baccata Wych elm Ulmus glabra]

Footnotes