Available support

Grants and volunteer support available

 A table on the current support available for woodland is produced and updated by the Forestry Commission.  As of 2023 it includes:

• The Woodland Creation Planning Grant to help owners plan their woodland creation and ensure it addresses the right ecological, economic and social objectives.
• England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) – this is the main grant available for planting woodland in rural areas including the Green Belt.
• High Speed 2 Woodland Fund – this is directed at land within 25 miles of HS2 which includes all of London.
• Urban Tree Challenge Fund – this is focused on “tree planting” of single trees in urban and peri-urban areas.  It could be used where woodland creation in the Green Belt extends into urban areas or for linear or wide-spaced woodlands, orchards or ‘wood-pasture’.
• The Woodland Creation Accelerator Fund provides revenue support for local authorities for additional staff or consultants required to accelerate plans for tree and woodland creation.  Seven London boroughs were successful in the first round.
• Future Forests Collective and The Forestry England Woodland Partnership– the Forestry Commission is looking to attract partners who may wish to enter into long-term leases and agreements for them to secure woodland creation and management on the owner’s behalf.
• The ‘Call for Ideas’ initiative is a new scheme from the Nature for Climate Fund (NCF) where the Government is inviting the owners of suitable sites to come forward with novel proposals that will result in at least 100 ha of new woodland planted on their land by 31 March 2025. Suitable land for this call is defined as land that is owned by either national or local government, or land owned by a third sector organisation.

To access these schemes and others, the woodland creation will need to conform to planning and regulatory requirements set out in the guide to planning new woodland in England as well as the UK Forestry Standard which is currently being updated.

Furthermore, there are additional funding streams or partnership opportunities that together create a substantial portfolio of opportunities for woodland creation at all scales and land types:

• Community Forests (Trees for Climate Fund) – provides enhanced grants and support for woodland creation in community forestry areas.  This could be an opportunity to encourage the whole or a much wider area of the Green Belt to become a community forest.
• Woodland Trust – generally aimed at smaller landowners wanting to plant small areas of woodland. The Woodland Trust can access owners with larger “gardens” or smallholdings that may be too small for Forestry Commission grants.  Enhanced GiGL mapping in phase two of this Green Belt woodland creation initiative could go a long way to identifying these as a private owner group.

• Farming in Protected Landscapes – For habitat management, flood risk and carbon reduction specifically in protected landscapes which could include woodland areas, hedgerows and orchards or wood pasture.
• England Woodland Creation Partnerships – these are enhanced grants available through the community forests which could provide further opportunities in the Green Belt.  They offer a comprehensive package backed up by field officer support and include:
  • Trees for Climate grants that include establishment costs and 15 years of maintenance payments.
  • Changing Landscape Scheme that is specific to the character area of the community forest (in this case the National Forest) and can include woodland such as linear features, riparian zones, agroforestry etc.
  • Freewoods Scheme for small woodland under 1 hectare.
  • Parkland and wood pasture Scheme to connect areas of woodland with wider dispersed treescapes.
  • Small grants scheme for peripheral capital works such as community groups, nurseries etc.
  • Northern Forest Grow Back Greener fund for woodland creation that also includes fencing and other necessary infrastructure works.
• Royal Forestry Society Grant for Resilient Woodlands – Planting grants from the Royal Forestry Society based on payments made by the public through carbon offset type schemes.

The traditional forestry investment firms, i.e. Gresham House or Foresight can offer attractive investment portfolios for those wishing to create woodland for carbon and timber incomes.

Farming and land management policy

Agri-environment schemes under the current Rural Development Programme for England are a significant source of funding for the planting and maintenance of trees and hedgerows in the farmed countryside, and have been used to help fund a number of the case study schemes mentioned here. However there are relatively low levels of both scheme coverage and spend in Green Belt areas (CPRE, The Countryside Next Door, report May 2022) An important reason for this is that only land on a recognised agricultural unit is eligible for support, and only 58% of land in the wider Metropolitan Green Belt is classified as being in agricultural use.

The new government is in the process of evolving the Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs). In future years a wider group of farmers may be eligible.