England woodland creation offer
A new Forestry Commission woodland grant has been launched and is open for applications all year round.
The England Woodland Creation Offer is more flexible than previous schemes and offers financial incentives for a broad range of benefits provided by planting new woodland. The grant is available for schemes as small as one hectare.
The grant covers standard costs for planting new woodland, up to a cap of £8,500 per hectare, as well as annual maintenance payments of £200 per hectare and optional one-off additional contributions where the new woodland provides public benefits. These include nature recovery, riparian buffers and addressing water quality and flood risk issues.
Subject to approval the grant can also be claimed for woodlands created by natural colonisation where the new woodland is within close enough proximity to an existing woodland.
Planting costs include supplying and planting trees and guards, tree shelters, fencing (for sheep and deer) and gates, as well as a range of boundary, deer and vegetation management measures.
Ben Dutton of Halls
