We are getting used to a policy which aims to maximise food production on the best land, while using less productive, marginal land to deliver ‘public goods’. One of these ‘public goods’ is woodland creation. However, not all land is suitable or best used to plant trees. Fortunately, a new grant scheme can help fund the process of working out whether land is viable for this use.
Some land types – including deep peat and certain priority habitats such as grassland, heathland and wetlands – will be unsuitable for trees and will be best managed in a different way to maximise the environmental benefits to be gained.
We now know about the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO), which provides up to 100pc of funding to plant new woodland, followed by 10 years of annual maintenance payments to establish the trees.
But less well-known is a new scheme, the Woodland Creation Planning Grant (WCPG), which provides funding and access to experts to identify any constraints and determine whether there is a viable scheme that will be eligible for the EWCO (something which must be done to access EWCO funding in any case, as any site supported by EWCO has to be agreed with Natural England and The Forestry Commission).
Access to WCPG is only available for planned woodlands of more than five hectares, whereas EWCO’s minimum area is one hectare. But who among us is surprised to find an absence of joined-up thinking?
If that initial feasibility study determines that there is a viable scheme, further funding is available under the WCPG to create the UK Forestry Standard compliant Woodland Creation Plan. This stage is not compulsory, but neither does it commit the applicant to go ahead with the planting scheme or any further financial liabilities.
It will make applying for an EWCO grant a much more streamlined process, so it's a no-brainer to go down the WCPG route first if you are planning to plant more than five hectares of woodland.
Don’t forget also that alongside this public funding, woodland creation can enable farmers to access private funding to provide a longer-term income stream. This can be achieved through sale on the open market of both Woodland Carbon Units verified through the Woodland Carbon Code and Biodiversity Net Gain Units linked to the planning system. Farmers who create woodland can potentially ‘stack’ these schemes on the same area of woodland, effectively providing two ongoing income streams once the initial public support has ended.
Woodland creation could be a valuable ‘public good’ which farmers can take advantage of – and the WCPG provides a practically risk-free way of assessing the viability of taking that route.
For more information, please visit www.arnoldskeys.com/agricultural-irelands
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