Cutting down trees in 2023 in a new way. The rules for registering trees for felling on the plot have been changed
Cutting down trees will be easier, this refers to the formal side. The relief came into effect on January 27, and it consists in the fact that municipalities will receive requests for tree removal not only in paper form, but also online. In the coming weeks, another innovation in the rulebook is expected, and it concerns the increase in the circumference of trunks by 20 cm, the cutting of which does not even have to be reported. However, there will not be an increased trunk girth limit?
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Municipalities will accept online permit applications for tree removal from January 27, 2023 The same applies submissions in cases where they are necessary. These situations are listed below. But first, let’s take a look at what’s new to expect in 2023.
Act of October 26, 2022 on Amendments to Certain Acts to Simplify Administrative Procedures for Citizens and Entrepreneurs introduces the aforementioned possibility of contacting the office online regarding tree felling. Legal entities and business entities need a permit, and natural persons need to register.
Simplification will also be the unification of application templates throughout Poland. They will be published on the Internet pages of the Public Information Bulletin of the Minister of Climate and Environmental Protection. We will refer them as before – to the municipal chief, the mayor or the president of the city. In the case of historical areas, the addressee is the monument conservator.
An attempt was made to amend the Nature Protection Act of April 16, 2004, which prescribes the dimensions of tree trunks that are cut down without notice. On November 16, the majority of deputies (258) after the first reading were in favor of referring the bill to the Extraordinary Commission for Deregulation.
The explanation of the project states:
The amendment is primarily aimed at limiting situations in which the planned removal of trees growing on real estate owned by natural persons, and removed for purposes unrelated to business, requires a report to the competent authority, which can oppose the removal.
In practice, such a change would make it easier to get fuel from your area. The changes contained in the project consist in increasing the circumference of the trunk (measured at a height of 5 cm) by 20 cm, which requires an announcement.
Update: On Wednesday, January 25, 2023, the Sejm held a second reading of the draft law amending the laws to remove unnecessary administrative and legal obstacles, during which MPs proposed a number of amendments.
On the same day, the Extraordinary Commission for Deregulation dealt with the amendments. On Wednesday, the deputies decided to adopt 8 amendments out of 27 proposed.
According to Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, this is one of the amendments adopted by the committee the proposal to delete the provisions that facilitate the cutting of trees on private properties by increasing the limit the circumference of the trunk above which official permission for felling is required and shortening the response time of the office to the request for felling.
In the end, the representatives gave up on the provision that was supposed to introduce changes in the trunk, and in this form the act was adopted in the Sejm and sent to the Senate, reports PAP.
Another of the changes consists in shortening to 14 days (from 21) the period in which the authority must perform an inspection of the trees registered for felling, and to 7 days (from 14) the period for submitting a possible complaint. A statutory period of 14 days for examination of an appeal against the body’s complaint is also being introduced.
Currently, a notification is required when the extent of the tree exceeds certain dimensions. Currently, for trees where such rules apply, these are the following dimensions at a height of 5 cm:
- 80 cm – if it is poplar, willow, ash and silver maple,
- 65 cm – if it is horse chestnut, acacia and sycamore,
- 50 cm – if other types of trees,
After the changes, the property owner would be required to report the intention to remove the tree if the girth of the trunk measured at a height of 5 cm exceeds:
- 100 cm – for poplar, willow, ash and silver maple;
- 85 cm – for wild chestnut, acacia and sycamore;
- 70 cm – for other types of trees;
Thanks to this change, property owners will be able to exercise their property rights on a wider scale, and in a situation where they want to remove a tree for which notice is required, they will receive a final decision more quickly on whether they can do so. Thanks to this, it is less likely that they will be denied during one season to remove the tree and restore the property, which is currently often the case due to lengthy administrative activities.
The state website explains that we do not need a notice or permit if we plan to cut:
