Countryside Stewardship Launches Woodland Creation Grant in England
From the 10th September you will be able to apply for the Woodland Creation Grant as part of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme all year round, following Natural England introducing a rolling application window.
The fundamentals of the scheme are not changing, with the grant funding the supply, planting, weeding and protection of young trees. Initial applications will still need to score 12 points to be accepted, but rather than setting a score that final applications must meet in order to be offered an agreement in a single round each year this will now be done every month. This approach allows the grant to be open to applications at any time of year.
Grants are worth up to £6,800 per hectare for woodland creation and once tree planting is completed, eligible applicants will be invited to apply for the 10-year maintenance payments. Remember the Government has confirmed that it will guarantee funding for Countryside Stewardship grants agreed and signed before the UK’s departure from the EU, for the lifetime of the agreement.
To find out more information, look up the Countryside Stewardship Woodland Creation page on www.gov.uk, and join the webinar on Tuesday 2 October at 12:30pm.