Woodland Grant Funding in England

Woodland Creation Planning Grant (WCPG)

WCPG is an optional 2 stage discovery grant which pays upto £30k to ascertain the likelihood of planting a site. Typically its used on large or more complex sites that have the potential to cause detriment if planned and planted incorrectly. 

 Stage 1 pays £1000 to undertake a desk-based analysis intended to identify constrains and begin communication with relevant stakeholders, culminating in a thorough understanding of the sites sensitivities and opportunities as well as survey requirement. 

 Stage 2 pays £150/ha +70% of survey costs and looks to gather the required information which will be presented to stakeholders to begin to shape a woodland design. 

England Woodland Creation Offer EWCO

EWCO is currently the mainstream woodland creation grant covering England it its entirety, it took over from Countryside Stewardship WCPG in the June of 2021, 

EWCO consists of 3 payment threads:  

Standard Cost Items – assigns a monetary amount per planted unit with the intention to cover the cost of planting the woodland. Up to a maximum of £10,200 per hectare.  Additional Contributions – assigns a monetary payment related to provision of environmental, biodiversity and social benefit. You could receive an additional £12,700 in stackable payments when delivering wider benefits to society, nature recovery and the environment, to support your woodland creation scheme.

 Maintenance – pays £400 per hectare per annum for 15 years intended to cover the costs of looking after your newly planted woodland. Generally covering tasks such as weeding, maintaining tree protection shelters and replacing failed trees. 

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Woodland Management Planning Grant (WMPG)

The WMP grant is a one-off payment of: 

• £1000 for woodland between 3 – 30ha  
• £1000 + £20/ha for woodland between 51 – 100ha 
• £2000 + £10/ha for woodland over 100ha 

 

The WMP grant is intended to contribute towards the production of a forestry Commission (FC) approved, UK Forestry Standard compliant management plan. The FC approved WMP includes a 10-year felling licence, a 10 year work program and an accompanying report identifying the key considerations and objectives relating t the woodland and the work to be carried out. 

Countryside Stewardship, Woodland Tree Health Grant

Woodland Tree Health grants are paid to restore and improve existing woodlands, generally grants are available for restocking after tree health issues and for felling infected trees and controlling invasive/non-native Rhododendron. 

The Woodland Tree Health Restoration grant pays between £1750 and £3500 per hectare to restock after felling due to tree health issues such as infected ash or larch trees. The amount received depends on the nature of the site and the restock species. 

Whilst the Woodland Tree Health Improvement grant pays between £260 and £1680 per hectare to fell infected trees and between £2800 and £4400 per hectare to control Rhododendron. 

Countryside Stewardship, Woodland Improvement Grant

The Woodland Improvement Grant is paid to bring woodland into or keep woodland under active management with the purpose of improving both resilience and biodiversity. Payments consist of £100 per hectare per annum, agreements are 5 years in length and fall under the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier Agreement. There are also additional options available relating to funding of capital items.