Opportunity to create woodland using the England Woodland Creation Offer
Landowners including owner occupiers, tenants and landlords can apply to the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) for support to create new woodland, including through natural colonisation, on areas as small as one hectare.
There are four types of payment available under EWCO:
- support for the capital items and activities to establish new woodland, with payments covering 100% of standard costs (the national average)
- ten years of annual Maintenance Payments to help establish the young trees once the capital works are complete
- a contribution towards the actual cost of installing infrastructure to either enable the current and future management of the woodland, or to provide recreational access
- optional Additional Contributions where the location of the woodland and its design will deliver public benefits. You can apply for multiple Additional Contributions on the same land where the woodland is in the right location and the design will provide multiple public benefits
Applicants could receive over £10,000 per hectare to support a woodland creation scheme.
The significance to the landscape and horticulture industry, is that the EWCO pilots a new bio- secure procurement requirement for suppliers of plants and trees that applies from 22nd June 2022.
This requirement means applicants eligible for funding under the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) and the Future Farming Tree Health Pilot, will need to source their trees from suppliers who are either certified under the Plant Healthy Certification Scheme (or have applied to become certified) or who have passed a Ready to Plant assessment provided by Fera Science Ltd.
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