TE10: Coppicing bankside trees
Find out about eligibility and requirements for the coppicing bankside trees item.
This item is part of Capital Grants. You must read the Capital items: guidance for applicants and agreement holders to understand the rules and how to apply.
How much you’ll be paid
£53.95 per tree.
How this item benefits the environment
Coppicing of bankside trees improves their longevity. It provides valuable habitat and habitat corridors in river valley and wetland landscapes. In the right location, it can help:
- increase the amount of light reaching the river
- stabilise riverbanks
- stabilise ditch banks
Where you can use this item
You can use this item on trees growing on or within 5 metres (m) of a streamside or riverbank. The trees cannot be currently managed under a regular coppicing programme.
What you must do to use this item
You must :
- coppice trees between 1 September and 1 March
- cut trees between 7.5 centimetres (cm) and 15cm above ground level
- encourage re-group by protecting cut stools from livestock, deer and rabbits
- control the growth of nettle, thistle, dock, ragwort and other weed species
- only use spot treatment or weed wiping when applying herbicides
Evidence you must keep
You must keep photographs of the completed work and provide them with your claim.
You must also keep and provide on request:
- any consents or permissions connected with the work
- receipted invoices or bank statements where a receipted invoice is unavailable
- photographs of the trees you plan to coppice
Read the record keeping and site visit requirements in the Agreement holder’s guide: Capital Grants, Higher Tier capital grants and Protection and Infrastructure grants for more information.
Advice to help you use this item
The following advice may help you to use this item, but you do not have to follow it to get paid. It’s not part of this item’s requirements.
Picking the right location
Use this item for individual or small groups of trees along a streamside or riverbank.
It can be used to either bring trees into a coppicing programme or for the selection of single stems to grow on to become mature trees.
Consider the short-term impact on the ecology, and visual impact on the landscape when determining the percentage of trees to be coppiced along any stretch of watercourse.
How to manage the coppicing
Angle cuts away from the centre of the crown when coppicing to allow water to run off.
The cut material can either be safely stacked in piles on the site or secured (using biodegradable fixings) in the channel as large woody material. Alternatively remove it from site if it is likely to cause an issue if moved by flood waters.
Aim to manage trees along a streamside or riverbank in rotation over several years. There should be some mature woody growth that is providing habitat and potentially dappled shade to the river channel.
It’s important to maintain a balance between light and shade to a river and stream. A ratio of 60% open water to 40% dappled shade represents a reasonable balance in most situations. Chalk streams are generally more open than this and rivers and streams in wooded landscapes may be more shaded.
Updates to this page
Published 2 April 2015Last updated 3 February 2025 + show all updates
-
Amended item - you can now use this item within 5m of a riverbank.
-
'Where to use this item' updated to include WD2: Woodland Improvement
-
Updated for 2017 applications.
-
Information updated for applications in 2016.
-
First published.