Applicant's guide: Woodland Creation and Maintenance grants from 9 February 2021

Question 1

1 Introduction

Accepted Answer

The Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement is part of Countryside Stewardship. It’s made up of a capital element under which you can apply for support to create a woodland, followed by a maintenance element to maintain it.

The agreement is new for 2021 and combines the existing Woodland Creation grant and the Woodland Creation Maintenance (WD1) payments. If successful your agreement will have two elements:

Woodland creation – this element runs for two years, during which you have to complete all of the capital works
Woodland maintenance – if you are eligible, this element begins once your capital works are completed. It runs for ten years and throughout that time we will pay you an annual grant of £200 per hectare.

This manual applies to Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement applications received from 9 February 2021. It gives payment rates and explains what you need to do to apply for a Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement and any additional requirements and processes which you must follow.

Agricultural Transition

We will continue to offer Countryside Stewardship agreements in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Countryside Stewardship will eventually be replaced with the new Environmental Land Management scheme. This will follow trialling and testing and a national pilot involving farmers and land managers. The full Environmental Land Management scheme will be in place from 2024.

Applications for Countryside Stewardship agreements which start on or after 1 January 2021 are made under domestic legislation.

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

You can read the latest information for farmers, landowners and rural businesses during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on GOV.UK.

The Countryside Stewardship scheme

Important information

Woodland support grants are provided under domestic legislation. You may need to keep evidence and provide it when requested. Check Countryside Stewardship grants for the evidence and record-keeping requirements of grants before you apply for them.

Countryside Stewardship priorities

The main priority for Countryside Stewardship is to protect and enhance the natural environment, in particular:

increased biodiversity, improved habitat and expanded woodland areas
improved water quality
improved air quality

Other outcomes supported are:

protection against flooding and coastal erosion
maintaining the historic environment
improved landscape character
climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Other schemes

Countryside Stewardship (CS) gives incentives for land managers to look after their environment and is made up of the following elements:

Higher Tier agreements for land that requires more complex management tailored to the individual site
Mid Tier agreements that provide a range of options and capital items that together help to deliver a broad range of environmental benefits
The 4 Wildlife Offers provide a simpler set of options to help improve the wildlife on farms
The Capital Grant offer provides grants for boundaries, trees and orchards, water quality and air quality
The Woodland Tree Health grant to help restore and improve tree health
The Woodland Management Plan grant to help create a UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) compliant 10 year woodland management plan
The Facilitation Fund to support individuals and organisations working with local groups of farmers and land managers, and co-ordinate their environmental land management.

The Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement is part of Countryside Stewardship. If you are a land manager, you can apply for a Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement to support the creation of new woodland on your land and its long-term maintenance. This includes:

the restocking of trees after tree felling to manage infection of certain tree diseases or pests
the removal of diseased trees and infected rhododendron.

1.1 Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant manual

This manual explains what you need to do to apply for the Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement of Countryside Stewardship. It also explains the additional requirements and processes that you must follow if your application is successful.

For information about the other elements of Countryside Stewardship, search for ‘Countryside Stewardship: How to apply’ on GOV.UK.

1.1.1 Countryside Stewardship Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant Agreement

A Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant Agreement comprises of:

The Countryside Stewardship Terms and Conditions at Annex 1
An Agreement Document for Woodland Creation (which sets out agreement holder specific details)
If eligible, an Agreement Document for Woodland Maintenance
The supplementary documents referred to in the Agreement Document.

1.1.2 Mandatory elements of the Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant manual

The Terms and Conditions at Annex 1 refer to the mandatory elements of this manual that Agreement Holders must comply with.

The mandatory sections of this manual are:

Section 2: Scheme overview
Section 3: Who can apply and what land is eligible
Section 6: Scheme requirements and procedures
Section 7: Agreement Management.

1.2 More information

Read the Countryside Stewardship: How to apply page and the Countryside Stewardship forms page for more information specific to woodland support and the following grants:

Woodland Management Plan
Woodland Tree Health

1.3 Fraud

Fraudsters may target farmers who receive subsidy payments and we’re aware that in the past some customers have received emails, texts and telephone calls claiming to be from RPA or Defra. Links to a fake website designed to look like an authentic RPA or Defra online service are sometimes included in the message. We do not send emails or text messages with links to websites asking you to confirm your personal details or payment information. If you receive such a request, we strongly advise that you do not open the link and delete the email or text message.

As fraudsters may target farmers who receive subsidy payments, remember:

never discuss your bank account details with someone you do not know
we will not ask you to make a payment over the phone
delete any emails or texts you do not believe are genuine, and do not open any links – our main email addresses are:
- ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk
- rpa@notifications.service.gov.uk
be cautious about what information you share externally, particularly on social media.

If you suspect an attempted fraud or feel you have been the subject of fraud, you can contact:

RPA’s Fraud Referral Team on 0800 347 347 or FraudInConfidence@rpa.gov.uk
Action Fraud (the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cyber-crime) on 0300 123 2040.

Question 2

2 Scheme  overview

Accepted Answer

You must read and meet the requirements detailed in this section as these are mandatory for all Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant agreement holders.

Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreements are available under Countryside Stewardship. You can submit an application for a Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement at any time of the year. If you accept an offer for a grant, you will enter into an agreement with the Rural Payments Agency (RPA).

For guidance and information on other woodland capital grants available as part of Countryside Stewardship (Woodland Management Plans and Woodland Tree Health) read Countryside Stewardship: How to apply.

2.1 Capital items available for Woodland Creation

18 capital items are available. There is a description and essential requirements for each capital item on the Countryside Stewardship online grants finder tool. This also includes eligibility and evidence requirements.

You can find:

a full list of capital items that are eligible for this scheme, in the List of eligible capital items section
the payment rates and details about using supplements in Section 5.

2.2 Agreement period

The Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement is made up of a 2 year capital grant element under which you can apply for support to create a woodland, followed by a 10 year maintenance element to maintain it.

2.2.1 The Woodland Creation element of the agreement

The Woodland Creation element of your Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement will run for a maximum of 2 years from the start date of your agreement. The agreement may not run for the full 2-year period if you finish the works before then.

During this period, you must complete all Woodland Creation capital works. You will then have a further 3 months from the end of this period to submit your payment claim. We will not accept claims after this date.

You must not submit your payment claim until you have paid for the Woodland Creation capital items on the claim and the payment for them has left your bank account.

You must:

maintain any capital items funded through the scheme in the same condition and specification set out in your agreement, for 5 years from the date of final payment of the Woodland Creation element of the agreement. This is called the ‘durability’ period of the agreement;
have management control of the land for the length of the Woodland Creation element of the agreement including for the 5 years durability period. See Section 3.2, which explains how this ‘durability’ requirement applies if you are a landlord or a tenant.

2.2.2 Confirmation of continuation of your Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement

If you are eligible, you will receive a letter asking you to confirm whether or not you want to enter into the Woodland Maintenance element of your Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement.

Once you have confirmed that you want to enter into the Woodland Maintenance element of the agreement, you will be eligible for funding for the 10 year period following the initial Woodland Creation element period.

You will receive annual payments of £200 per hectare to maintain your woodland and any capital items that were funded through the Woodland Creation grant over this 10-year period.

To support the successful establishment and ongoing maintenance of new woodland you will need to:

keep all newly planted trees weed-free for 10 years
replace any trees that die
maintain fences, tree shelters or spiral guards
maintain areas of open space
remove individual tree protection in year 10

Please see Section 5.4 for more detail.

2.2.3 If you decide not to enter into the Woodland Maintenance element of the agreement

If you do not wish to enter into the Woodland Maintenance element of your Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement, then you must continue to maintain the capital items funded through the Woodland Creation element for 5 years following the date of the final Creation payment. This is referred to as the ‘durability requirement’. You can find more information about this in section 5.4.

The exception to this rule is the leaky woody dams capital items (RP32 and RP33) which have to be maintained for 2 years from the date they are claimed for.

2.3 How applications are selected

Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreements are competitive. We score applications and will make an agreement offer to those with the highest score (depending on the budget that is available). You need to score your own application first by filling in the scoring section in the Woodland Creation annex of the application form. You must send this to us with your initial application. You need to score 12 points for us to accept an initial application and to take it forward.

Once you have agreed your final application we will give it a final score. Every month we set a final threshold score based on the budget that is available. If your application has a final score equal to or greater than the final threshold score we will offer you an agreement.

The highest Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant scores are for applications that cover a large geographical area (the score is multiplied by the hectares of woodland you propose to create), and those that have the greatest positive impact on:

biodiversity
water (quality and flooding) and
climate change (read: Climate change: impacts and adaptation in England’s woodlands and Tree species and provenance for more information).

Incentives for planting to enhance air quality will be included in the near future.

We will award additional points if you are working in a partnership at a landscape scale (involving multiple ownerships) in specific target areas.

If your application is unsuccessful you can re-apply at any time. However, you will need to change your application to increase its score so it has a chance of meeting a subsequent clearing score.

2.4 What the grant cannot pay for

The grant cannot be used to pay for the cost of any of the following:

any capital works initiated before the agreement start date
planning application fees or other transactional fees
agent fees or other advisory fees
meeting legal requirements, including planning conditions
woodland creation for short rotation coppice and/or short rotation forestry.

Question 3

3 Who  can apply and what land is eligible

Accepted Answer

You must read and meet the requirements detailed in this section as these are mandatory for all Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant agreement holders.

The Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant is open to land managers who are either:

an owner occupier
a tenant
a landlord
a licensor

as long as they have control of all the land and all the activities needed to meet the obligations of the grant for the full duration of the agreement.

3.1 Eligible Land

3.1.1 What land can be entered into the scheme

You can include land that is not already classified as existing woodland as part of your Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant.

3.1.2 Ineligible land

The following land is not eligible for the Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant – you cannot include it on your application:

developed land and hard standing (including permanent caravan sites and areas used for permanent storage)
land that is already part of another obligation which is incompatible with Countryside Stewardship
any land parcels which are not entirely within England. Parcels that are either partly or entirely within Scotland or Wales are not eligible for Countryside Stewardship
land where you do not have management control for the period of the agreement and you are not able to have an application countersigned by the landowner (read section 3.2).

3.2 Management Control

You must have management control of the land and all activities needed to meet the requirements of the capital items selected for the full period of:

the Woodland Creation element of the agreement (2 years); and
the Woodland Maintenance element, if applicable (10 years).

If you do not wish to enter into the Woodland Maintenance element of your Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement, then you must:

have management control of the land for 5 years following the date of the final Woodland Creation payment; and
maintain any capital items funded through the scheme in the same condition and specification set out in your agreement, for 5 years from the date of final payment of the Woodland Creation element of the agreement. The exception to this rule is the leaky woody dams capital items (RP32 and RP33) which have to be maintained for 2 years from the date they are claimed for.

You must get the written consent of all other parties who have management control of the land and activities for the full agreement period and durability periods set out above.

3.2.1 Tenants

If you are a tenant applying for an agreement in your name, you must have:

control of all required activities needed to meet the scheme requirements for the chosen Countryside Stewardship capital items
management control of all the agreement land for the duration of any commitments (which may extend beyond the agreement period)
security of tenure for the full period of the agreement.

If this is not possible, you must get your landlord to countersign your application. If you are not able to do this, you cannot include that particular area of land in your application. If you are a tenant, including under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986, the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 (a Farm Business Tenancy) or equivalent, it is your responsibility to check that you do not breach the terms of your tenancy by joining Countryside Stewardship.

If the landlord takes over a Countryside Stewardship agreement from you once your tenancy has ended, they must be eligible to do so. For example, they must not be an ineligible public body.

If you are a tenant of a public body, you may be able to receive payments for both the Woodland Creation and Woodland Maintenance elements of the grant. To be eligible, you must have security of tenure for the full period of the agreement (i.e. 12 years). If you do not have security of tenure for the full period of the agreement, you may still be eligible but:

Your landlord must countersign your application; and
Your landlord must be eligible.

If you do not meet these conditions, you will only be able to receive payments for the Woodland Creation element of the grant. See Section 3.2.6 for more information.

3.2.2 Landlords

If you are a landlord and can show that you keep management control over the land which has been let to a tenant, you can include that land in a Countryside Stewardship Woodland Creation and Maintenance application.

You can claim BPS on land which is in a CS Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement provided the land meets certain eligibility requirements. Non-agricultural land is considered eligible for BPS on the condition that both of the following criteria are met:

The non-agricultural land was used with entitlements to claim under the Single Payments Scheme in 2008
The land is currently in a CS Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement (this includes the five year durability requirement if Creation only, otherwise until the end of the Maintenance agreement)

As the agreement holder, you must give your tenant a copy of the Countryside Stewardship Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement. We may ask you to provide evidence to show that you have done this. It is your responsibility to make sure that your tenant does not breach the terms of the agreement.

For more information read Guidance on woodland grant schemes and BPS: operations note 42.

3.2.3 Partnerships

If you are in a business partnership, you can apply for a Countryside Stewardship Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement. The person submitting the application must have the appropriate permission levels in the Rural Payments service on GOV.UK.

3.2.4 Licensors

If you are a licensor, you can apply for a Countryside Stewardship Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement. It is your responsibility to make sure that the licensee does not breach the terms of the Countryside Stewardship agreement. You must make sure that the licensee is aware of the requirements of the agreement, as relevant to the licence, and include these in the licence agreement.

3.2.5 Licensees

If you are a licensee, you may be eligible in certain circumstances if you can demonstrate full management control of the land for the period of the agreement.

3.2.6 Land owned by public bodies

Land owned or run by a public body is in general not eligible for Countryside Stewardship. If you are a tenant of a public body, you will need to check with your landlord if the land is eligible for Countryside Stewardship.

Countryside Stewardship cannot pay for any environmental management that is already required through:

payment from EU and Exchequer funds
grant aid from any other public body
any other form of legally binding obligation including tenancies.

This means that Crown bodies and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) are not eligible for the scheme. This includes those that are Trading Funds or do not receive funding direct from the Exchequer.

Crown bodies include all government departments and their executive agencies. These include, for example:

Ministry of Defence
Forestry Commission

NDPBs are public bodies that have a role in the processes of national government but are not a government department, and are not part of one. These include:

Environment Agency
Natural England
Historic England
National Forest Company.

Parish councils and former college farms are not considered to be public bodies and so are eligible to apply for Countryside Stewardship.

The following table provides more detailed eligibility requirements for public bodies.

Body/Organisation	Eligibility	More information
Government departments, executive agencies and NDPBs (for example Ministry of Defence, Forestry Commission)	Ineligible	Cannot apply for Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement
Other public bodies (for example local authorities, National Park authorities and public corporations)	Eligible	Can apply for Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement, provided the work does not form part of their obligations as a public body
Parish Councils and former college farms	Eligible	Can apply for a Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement
Tenants of eligible public bodies	Eligible	Can apply for a Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement, but is ineligible where the work is already a requirement of the tenancy agreement. The public body must countersign the application if the tenant does not have security of tenure.
Tenants of ineligible public bodies	Eligible	Can apply for a Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement, but is ineligible where the work is already a requirement of the tenancy agreement. Tenants must have security of tenure for the full term of the agreement, as the public body cannot countersign the application.

If you are a tenant of a public body, you may be able to receive payments for both the woodland creation and woodland maintenance elements of the grant. To be eligible, you must have security of tenure for the full period of the agreement (12 years). If you do not have security of tenure for the full period of the agreement, you may still be eligible but:

Your landlord must countersign your application; and
Your landlord must be eligible.

If you do not meet these conditions, you will only be able to receive payments for the Woodland Creation element of the grant.

If you are a tenant of an ineligible public body and:

Your tenure ends before the end of the 12-year Woodland Creation and Management agreement, you will not be able to apply for both elements of the grant.
Your tenure ends before the end of the woodland creation element and the subsequent 5-year durability period of the agreement, you will not be able to apply for either element of the agreement.

On land owned by public bodies, the durability requirements described in Section 2.2 apply. These means that tenants must:

maintain any capital items funded through the scheme in the same condition and specification set out in your agreement, for 5 years from the date of final payment of the Woodland Creation element of the agreement. This is called the ‘durability’ period of the agreement;
have management control of the land for the length of the Woodland Creation element of the agreement including for the 5 year durability period.

As noted above, an eligible public body (local authority, National Park or public corporation) must countersign the agreement where the tenancy will end during the 5 year durability period.

If you are a tenant of a public body, then please contact RPA or your Forestry Commission Woodland Officer to discuss your application.

3.3 Land receiving other funding or other agreements

You cannot use this grant to carry out capital works which are required under other agreements. For example, work might be required as part of a tenancy agreement or grant schemes such as:

Environmental Stewardship
other grants within Countryside Stewardship
English Woodland Grant schemes
Farming Recovery Fund
Heritage Lottery Fund
Inheritance Tax Exemption
Other woodland creation schemes from the FC and woodland creation partnerships.

You must make sure that any work proposed as part of this grant does not breach the conditions of any other agreement. We will carry out checks to make sure that capital works are not funded twice from public money.

If your application is on land which is already in an Environmental Stewardship (ES) and/or English Woodland Grant Scheme (EWGS) agreement, Natural England, the Forestry Commission and RPA will check it to make sure the work is compatible. However it is your responsibility to make sure that you and the land are eligible.

The Woodland Carbon Guarantee (WCaG) is an incentive scheme to help accelerate woodland planting rates across England. You can make a WCaG application alongside applications for woodland creation and maintenance grants, providing that your (WCaG) contract was signed after 29 October 2018.

3.4 Common land and shared grazing

Common land and shared grazing is eligible for the Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement. Commoners/graziers need to agree and name one person to sign the application. This person will then be responsible for maintaining the relevant agreement, if accepted, on behalf of all the commoners/graziers.

If your application is on common land you must read the Common land and shared grazing: supplement to the Countryside Stewardship manual which sets out the requirements, and complete the additional Common land and shared grazing form: Countryside Stewardship.

If you are thinking about applying for a Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement, please be aware that the work may need consent from the Planning Inspectorate on behalf of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Consent is required where the work would prevent or impede access or for works to the surface the land, for example:

Putting up new fences to protect new trees, woodland planting or to encourage natural regeneration.
Building new solid surfaced roads, paths or car parks to enable access to manage the new or existing woodland.

Consent is not required in certain situations – including erecting fencing for up to five years, depending on the purpose of the fencing, such as habitat restoration on moorland. However, where an exception applies you must still complete a notice of exemption and send it to the Planning Inspectorate.

If consent is needed it applies equally to new works or where the work is an extension to work with an existing consent.

To be given consent, the work you propose will need to comply with the Secretary of State’s Common land consents policy.

Read Carrying out works on common land to find out more information on the type of work that requires consent, where exemptions might apply and the application process.

3.5 Applying for woodland creation and maintenance on land currently in Environmental Stewardship (ES)

You can apply for a Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant on land currently in Environmental Stewardship (ES). In most cases, you will be able to remove your land from ES without penalty to join Woodland Creation and Maintenance.

Your land will be eligible for a woodland creation and maintenance grant, if the new application:

is an environmental improvement, and
(if applicable) any remaining parts of your Environmental Stewardship agreement still deliver coherent environmental objectives.

If your land meets these requirements, you will be able to enter the Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant without having to repay all or part of your Environmental Stewardship payments.

You will need to carefully consider which options you would like to include in your application and, if applicable, consider how the remaining parts of your land deliver against environmental objectives. We recommend these options are assessed early in the application process and that you highlight to the Forestry Commission, Natural England and RPA if any of the land proposed for inclusion in a Woodland Creation and Maintenance application is still in an Environmental Stewardship agreement.

If your land does not meet these requirements, you will have to either:

Wait for the ES agreement to expire and then apply for a Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement; or
Repay all/part of the ES grant funding (amounts as determined by the RPA) and apply for Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement.

If you need to split a land parcel that is in an ES agreement in order to facilitate entry into Woodland Creation and Maintenance, you will need to request this using an RLE1 form. Read about how to do this in the RLE1 guidance on GOV.UK.

If you need to remove land parcels from an ES agreement, you will need to fill in a LTA1 form. Refer to Contact details to find out how to request an LTA1 form.

You need to send the RPA your completed LTA1 and RLE1 forms before the application can go through the monthly scoring round.

If you have any questions about this process or would like further information, please contact the RPA who will direct your query to the relevant Natural England ES team (to discuss your Environmental Stewardship agreement) [and a local Forestry Commission Woodland Officer. You can find the contact details at the end of this document.

3.6 Business Viability Test

We will check all applications against an insolvency register. If we assess your application as not financially viable, we may not offer you an agreement. Applications involving capital expenditure over certain limits will require additional evidence and undergo additional checks. Read 4.7.1 for more information.

Question 4

4 How  to apply

Accepted Answer

Find out how to apply and the evidence and consents you’ll need.

Register your land on Rural Payments service if you have not already done so and prepare your application. Application documents are available on GOV.UK.
Email RPA (ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk using the email address you’ve registered on Rural Payments, to ask for a copy of the Annex you need to fill in and send with your application form. Make sure you put ‘Send CS WCM annex’ in the subject header of the email. You can also call RPA (on 03000 200 301) to ask for a copy.
Submit your application to RPA by email or by post. Refer to Section 4.7 for further information
RPA carry out checks to make sure your application is complete and eligible.
A Forestry Commission Woodland Officer will visit your site, carry out consultation and/or assessment if required and agree any changes to your application with you.
Send your final application and any necessary supporting evidence and documentation to the Forestry Commission. The form must be signed if sending by post, but a signature is not required if sending by email. Send LTA1 and RLE1 forms to the RPA if the application includes land in an ES agreement. You do not need to send any consents with your application but you must obtain consent before you carry out any work where a consent is needed. We may ask to see evidence of this.
Forestry Commission set the clearing score for final applications. RPA send an agreement offer to the highest scoring applications.
You can accept or reject the agreement offer – if you accept you have 2 calendar years to complete capital works from the agreement start date.
Send your final claim (and any consents) for the woodland creation part of the grant to RPA within 2 years and 3 months of the agreement start date (that is, 3 months after the agreement end date). You must have paid for the capital items that you are claiming for, and the payment must have left your bank account before you send us your claim.
If you are eligible and once we have paid your final Woodland Creation claim, we will send you your Woodland Maintenance agreement. We will write to you to confirm whether or not you want to enter into the Woodland Maintenance element of your agreement.

4.1 Application deadline

You can apply for a Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant at any time. The grant is open throughout the year.

4.2 Register with the Rural Payments service

You must be registered on the Rural Payments service before you can apply for this grant. Once you’re registered, you will receive a Customer Registration Number (CRN) and a Single Business Identifier (SBI). If you use an agent to apply for you, they must also be registered on Rural Payments and you must give the appropriate permissions in the Rural Payments Service.

All land parcels listed on your application must be registered on the Rural Payments service, and have a parcel reference number (in the format AA1234 5678). You will be asked to provide your parcel reference numbers when you apply. To register land, you must complete a Rural Land and Entitlements (RLE1) form and provide annotated maps to clearly show where the land parcels are on your holding and send this to RPA. You can find more information about this at Register land with the Rural Land Register.

If any of the land parcels on the Rural Payments service need to be split to accommodate new woodland, you will need to fill in an RLE1 form and send it to RPA. Please note the use of marker posts or stones may be needed when splitting land parcels for woodland creation. You can find guidance on splitting land parcels including marking permanent boundaries to split land parcels at RLE1 form and guidance. You must have sent your completed RLE1 forms to RPA for action before your application can go through the monthly scoring round.

4.3 Application methods

You can submit your application by email or post.

The Countryside Stewardship Woodland Creation and Maintenance application form is available at Countryside Stewardship forms. If you cannot download the application form, please contact us. Use the guidance available at ‘How to complete your Woodland Creation and Maintenance Application Form’ to help you fill in the application form.

You also need to fill in a Woodland Creation and Maintenance Annex and send this to us with your application form. Email ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk to get a copy of this.

Before making your application please read the Terms and Conditions found in Annex 1 of this manual.

If you submit by email, as long as the application form is sent by someone with the correct permissions (and an email address that is registered on Rural Payments for that person or business) you do not need to print the relevant section(s) and form(s) to sign and scan the documents back into your computer.

4.4 Prepare a map to accompany your application

You must complete your map to a required standard. Please read How to complete the Countryside Stewardship Capital Grant application form.

You must check each capital item you are applying for to see if any consents are needed. You are responsible for arranging all relevant consents, permissions, exemptions and any written advice needed for your application as set out in section 6.3. We may ask to see this evidence.

You will need to check if any permissions or consents are needed before you begin any work. Your local planning authority can give you informal advice on whether a proposal needs planning consent. There is also general guidance on planning available at Planning practice guidance.

You will need to check with the local planning authority and relevant highways authority (if relevant), if permitted development rights apply to any woodland infrastructure (FY2) you wish to include in your application. This will determine if full planning consent is needed and which authority (Local Planning Authority or the Forestry Commission) will be responsible for a decision on whether consent is needed under the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations. You will need to send evidence of the planning authority’s position on roads with your application.

Site of Special Scientific Interest (including National Nature Reserves)

One-to-one technical advice for Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreements is not available from Natural England, except in relation to any land in a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) which is contained in the application. Work on land in a SSSI will need consent and you should contact Natural England as early as possible when you are getting your application ready.

Scheduled monuments

Your local Historic England officer can provide advice on any management or changes needed to maintain or bring the monument into favourable condition. You may also need Scheduled Monument Consent from the Government (advised by Historic England) for some of the chosen work (such as fencing and gateways). In these situations you must speak to Historic England to see whether consent is needed, or how to go about works to avoid or reduce negative impacts on the Scheduled Monument.

If your proposals relate to any of the following, Historic England can advise whether they are likely to be acceptable:

registered parks and gardens
registered battlefields.

4.5.2 Other consents

You may need to apply for other consents even if you do not need planning consent. If you do, you must keep this evidence as we may ask to see it. Examples of areas where consent is likely to be needed includes where the work affects:

protected species (as defined by the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981)
registered parkland
registered battlefield
watercourse or highway areas subject to a Tree Preservation Order – a licence may be needed for any changes to trees and hedges.

If your application includes Capital Item Leaky Woody Dam (items RP32 and RP33) it will need approval from the Environment Agency or Lead Local Flood Authority. You can find more information about this in the Capital Item Leaky Woody Dam section.

For consents which affect protected species you may need to plan around seasonal activity. If this is the case it’s important you arrange the consents well in advance.

If the work affects priority habitats (which may not be SSSIs), you may need to consider the impact on these even if you do not need consent.

4.5.3 Other considerations

When you carry out work under the agreement, remember that you must not breach any other rules or laws, such as:

break byelaws
obstruct public rights of way
block or restrict access to ‘open access’ land
affect oil or gas pipelines
breach your cross compliance requirements in relation to any other existing commitments you hold, where applicable, for example if you claim BPS payments.

4.6 Complete and submit your application

A complete application is made up of the following which you need to submit to us:

an application form
an application annex
the application map as at section 5.5
a Countryside Stewardship: land ownership and control form, if applicable
any other supporting documents we ask for.

The form is available at Countryside Stewardship forms. You will need to contact RPA to request a copy of the annex.

You do not need to send the following with your application, but if required, you will need to have permission or consent in place before you carry out any work. You will need to submit this evidence when you make a claim for this work.

Any relevant consents, permissions, exemptions or any written advice.
Any evidence you need to support your application (see sections 6.3 to 6.5), including photographs and any other evidence required for each capital item as described on the Countryside Stewardship grants finder tool.

4.7 Before you submit your application

Read this Countryside Stewardship manual and the Terms and Conditions below and

double check the details in your application form are correct
read the declaration, undertakings and warning carefully
sign and enter your name in block letters, your capacity (for example, sole trader, company director, agent and so on) and the date of your signature

The party/parties that sign the paper application must have full authority and capacity to represent and bind the applicant.

Make sure any counter signatories’ (for example, landlords’) declarations, undertakings and signature(s) are provided (if applicable).

4.7.1 Business viability test

For applications including capital expenditure of over £50,000, you must submit a statement from a chartered accountant. This is to confirm that the business or SBI has the resources from trading profits, reserves or loans to undertake the work in the proposed agreement schedule.

Where confirmation from an accountant is needed, the accountant will need to provide a letter on headed paper which confirms at least the following:

they are a chartered accountant
they act as the accountant for the applicant
they can confirm that you as the applicant have sufficient finances to complete the capital works in your application and how these funds will be sourced, (for example, savings, loan and so on)
their understanding of the total value of the capital works in the application.

If your application includes more than £500,000 of capital items, we will also review 3 years of your relevant business accounts or other evidence. This is to confirm that you have the administrative, financial and operational capacity to meet the agreement requirements.

4.8 Submitting your application

You can email your application and supporting information to: ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk or post it to:

Rural Payments Agency (CS)
PO Box 324
Worksop
S95 1DF

Title your email ‘Countryside Stewardship, document type, year, SBI number’, for example Countryside Stewardship, Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant application, 2021, [SBI].

We also recommend that you:

get proof of postage for these and any other documents you send to us
keep a copy of your completed application form and map.

4.9 After applying

Once we receive your application we will check it to confirm that:

it meets the eligibility requirements in section 3
you have filled in all the necessary details on the application form
you have completed the map.

You can find more information about entering into an agreement at section 6.1.

Question 5

5 How  it works

Accepted Answer

This section provides information about the main elements of the CS Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant.

A Forestry Commission Woodland Officer will assess your application to make sure that the proposed tree planting is appropriate.

To support this you will need to prepare a woodland creation plan.

5.1 Prepare a woodland creation plan

The plan forms part of the Woodland Creation annex which you send as part of your application. Your Woodland Creation plan must meet the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) and associated guidelines.

On your Woodland Creation plan you need to record the objectives for the new woodland and give key details such as the tree species you plan to plant and their abundance, percentage open space and the planting density. The planting density (measured in ‘stems per hectare’) varies depending on the species choice and objectives of the proposed agreement.

The Woodland Wildlife Toolkit can provide an aid to identifying local species priorities and includes advice on woodland creation.

Please note:

In your Woodland Creation plan you need to give the reasoning for the capital items that support the tree planting (TE4), for example, protection requirements.
To receive support under the Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant, the planting density must reach a minimum of 1,100 stems per hectare. There can be exceptions (for example 400 stems/ha for woodland creation specifically to encourage black grouse, and greater densities, with variable spacing, near watercourses), but you must agree the planting density proposed with the Forestry Commission Woodland Officer.
Your proposed woodland must contribute to either biodiversity objectives and/or water objectives and you will need to describe the objective(s) for woodland creation (for example, planting for water, planting for biodiversity or planting for combined objectives) in your Woodland Creation plan. You can find guidelines on planting for biodiversity and water in the Woodland creation objectives and woodland design of this manual.

You will also need to record information on any constraints to woodland creation in the Woodland Creation plan and show how you have considered these in the woodland’s design. To do this you will need to acknowledge and consider environmental sensitivity, protected species and designations in and around the proposed site and any impacts the proposed scheme may have.

You need to make sure the capital works in your application will not damage important features such as priority habitats and historic or archaeological features on or next to where the work will take place. You will also need to consider if the work impacts land or features outside the site boundary. This may mean you need to speak to neighbours and interested parties to explain the work. You should consult with neighbours and interested parties before you send your initial application.

If the work requires planning around seasonal activity, you must make sure you plan this well in advance.

We also encourage you to speak to local archaeological organisations to get supporting advice for your application. Previously developed Historic Environment Records (HER) which were used to inform Farm Environment Plans or Historic Environment Farm Environment Records (HEFER) for previous CS Higher Tier applications may also provide information on any historic features you need to consider in your application.

If you are in a National Park you may be able to receive free advice from your local National Park Authority.

A Forestry Commission Woodland Officer will check these details when they review your application. This information will mean the Forestry Commission can assess the proposal under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Forestry) (England and Wales) Regulations 1999. You can find more information about this online at Environmental Impact Assessments for woodland. The check we carry out at this stage does not confirm the details are correct. We (or the Forestry Commission Woodland Officer) may ask you for more information at a later date or recovery money we’ve already paid you if we find an issue.

5.1.1 Woodland Creation Planning Grant

If your woodland creation is over 5 hectares in area, it may be eligible for a Woodland Creation Planning Grant (WCPG). WCPG contributes towards the costs of gathering and analysing the information land managers need to consider to make sure their proposals for productive multi-purpose woodland take account of any impacts on: biodiversity, landscape, water, the historic environment and local stakeholders.

Under WCPG you must produce a UK Forestry Standard compliant plan for creating the woodland that shows how you have taken into account any constraints and opportunities.

WCPG is not part of Countryside Stewardship and has a separate application process. If you have applied for WCPG you must have the WCPG Stage 1 checklist approved by the Forestry Commission before you apply for a Woodland Creation grant under Countryside Stewardship. The Woodland Creation design plan you produced under WCPG must be approved before you send the final application for the Countryside Stewardship Woodland Creation grant. You can find more information at Woodland Creation Planning Grant.

5.2 Planting area thresholds, open space and tree specifications

To be eligible for a Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement, your application must meet the thresholds in the table below. To use the lower threshold you need to write to us to explain the exceptional circumstances which apply in your case before you submit your application. If we accept the circumstances are exceptional we will confirm that you can use the lower threshold.

	General eligibility threshold	Lower threshold Only applicable in exceptional and fully justified cases. Planting as part of measures for water quality or flood prevention.
Minimum area per application	3 hectares	1 hectare
Minimum block size	0.5 hectares	0.1 hectares
Minimum width	20 metres	10 metres

You must limit integral woodland open space to 20% of the total woodland area and the individual areas of open space cannot exceed 0.5 hectares in width. We will not consider open areas larger than this as ‘woodland’ or as part of the woodland. Open space includes woodland tracks, rides, way leaves and other permanent open areas.

In order for a species to be eligible under Woodland Creation it must have at least one woody stem that is capable of achieving a total height of five metres on a given site. In certain situations natural site constraints may limit the height of species and this will be taken into account.

The following species are not eligible and cannot be funded under this grant:

Gorse (Ulex europaeus)
Rhododendron (Rhododendron spp.)
Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)
Laurel (all members of the Lauraceae family and cherry laurel)

5.3 Choose capital items, land area and planting specifications

The capital items you can use for the woodland creation element of your Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement are listed in the table below. The primary item is TE4 (Tree planting).

To reduce the risk of introducing or spreading harmful plant pests and diseases, it is important to source biosecure planting stock (preferably grown in the UK). We would encourage the use of plants from Plant Healthy certified nurseries where possible. Plant Healthy is a certification scheme designed to make sure that people who grow and handle plants have suitable biosecurity standards in place. You can find more information about the Plant Healthy Certification Scheme on the Plant healthy website.

You must use the Woodland Creation application annex to record the capital items you want to include in each land parcel (for example number of trees, shelters or length of fencing). Capital Item FY2: woodland infrastructure is an agreement level item and you need to also record that in the application annex, including details of road specification and quotes.

You can choose items from the capital items listed in the below table. Each has a payment rate which is the value of a one-off payment that will be paid towards the cost of that item or activity. Once you have an agreement you must maintain your capital items for 5 years from the date of final payment. Read Countryside Stewardship grants for full details on each capital item.

Code	Capital items for use in Woodland Creation	Payment Rate	Aim	Additional notes	Mandatory or optional?
TE4	Tree planting	£1.28/tree	To supply, plant and weed young trees and protect with a 0.6m spiral guard	Spiral not needed in some circumstances – this needs to be agreed with the Forestry Commission Woodland Officer	Mandatory
TE5	Individual tree shelter	£1.60/unit	To protect young trees with a tree shelter	This supplement can only be used with TE4. Shelter height to be agreed with Forestry Commission Woodland Officer	Optional
FG1	Fencing	£4/m	Method of stock control, to help habitat management or protect environmental features	This item can be used with the item TE5 where appropriate and agreed with the Forestry Commission Woodland Officer.	Optional
FG2	Sheep netting	£4.90/m	Exclude sheep to protect environmental features	This item can be used with the item TE5 where appropriate and agreed with the Forestry Commission Woodland Officer.	Optional
FG4	Rabbit fencing supplement	£2.50/m	Supplement to fencing (FG1), sheep netting (FG2), or deer fence (FG9) to exclude rabbits to help protect environmental features	This supplement can only be used with one of the following capital items; FG1 (Fencing), FG2 (Sheep Netting), FG9 (Deer Fencing). This item can be used with the item TE5 where appropriate and agreed with the Forestry Commission Woodland Officer	Optional
FG5	Fencing supplement - difficult site	£1.24/m	Supplement to fencing (FG1) to cover the extra costs of fencing on a difficult site	This supplement can only be used with one of the following capital items; FG1 (Fencing), FG2 (Sheep Netting), FG9 (Deer Fencing). This item can be used with the item TE5 where appropriate and agreed with the Forestry Commission Woodland Officer	Optional
FG9	Deer fencing	£7.20/m	To protect newly created woodland from deer browsing	This item can be used with the item TE5 where appropriate and agreed with the Forestry Commission Woodland Officer.	Optional
FG12	Wooden field gate or wooden wings	£390/gate	Facilitate stock management and keep livestock out of watercourses.	When used in combination with the item FG9, the gate (FG12) must be deer proof.	Optional
FG14	Badger gate	£135/gate	Provide badgers unrestricted access to either side of a newly erected fence, which crosses known badger routes	This supplement can only be used with one of the following capital items; FG1 (Fencing), FG2 (Sheep Netting), FG4 (Rabbit Fencing supplement), FG5 (Fencing supplement difficult sites), FG9 (Deer Fencing)	Optional
FG15	Water Gates	£240/Gate	Use across streams in conjunction with other stock control options to keep livestock and deer out of new planting	This item can only be used on fence lines across streams, with other stock or deer control items	Optional
FG16	Deer pedestrian gate	£271.50/gate	To install a deer proof pedestrian gate within the deer fence to allow access and/or enable woodland management	When used in combination with the item FG9, the pedestrian gate (FG16) must be deer proof	Optional
FG17	Deer vehicle gate	£344.60/gate	To install a deer proof vehicle gate within the deer fence to allow access and/or enable woodland management.	When used in combination with the item FG9, the vehicle gate (FG17) must be deer proof	Optional
BN12	Stone Wall Restoration	£25/m	Rebuilt stone wall which will help to control livestock and conserve traditional landscapes	To be used on walls where at least one-third of the original height has to be dismantled and rebuilt in order to complete the restoration.
BN13	Top Wiring – Stone Wall	£3.60/m	Where there is already a wall protecting a site this item can be used to provide additional height for deer/ large mammal protection	To be used on top of walls to keep out stock and deer from new woodland planting where appropriate and agreed with the Forestry Commission Woodland Officer	Optional
BN14	Stone Wall Supplement – Stone from Quarry	£44/m	To make sure that wall restoration can be finished where there isn’t enough reusable stone on-farm. Stone must be sourced from an off-site quarry		Optional
RP32	Small Leaky Woody Dam (1-3m)	£461.39/dam	To be used as part of a scheme designed to reduce flood risk and with the approval of the Environment Agency and/or Lead Local Flood Authority	To support this item, PA2 Feasibility Study can be used. This is a standalone item and can only be used with written permission which you got from Natural England before you applied for Woodland Creation.	Optional
RP33	Large Leaky Woody Dam (3-5m)	£764.43/dam	To be used as part of a scheme designed to reduce flood risk and with the approval of the Environment Agency and/or Lead Local Flood Authority	To support this item, PA2 Feasibility Study can be used. This is a standalone item and can only be used with written permission which you got from Natural England before you applied for Woodland Creation.	Optional
FY2	Woodland Infrastructure	40% of actual cost (based on the selected quote)	To be used to support the planting and maintenance of new woodland	This item may need planning permission and if you must send evidence of this with your claim.	Optional

You can find more information on woodland infrastructure (FY2) and more on indicative designs for small and large leaky woody dams (RP32 and RP33) in the relevant sections below.

5.4 Payments for the Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant

Payments under Woodland Creation and Maintenance are different depending on which part of the agreement you are being paid for.

5.4.1 Woodland Creation

The payment that you receive will depend on the capital items or option you have selected. The payment is a contribution towards the costs of carrying out the work.

Payments under the woodland creation element of your Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement are subject to a cap that limits the amount that can be paid. The cap is taken as an average per hectare across the whole application. The payment cap is £6,800 per hectare. If you use the excel spreadsheet version of the Woodland Creation and Maintenance application annex, this will be calculated automatically.

If the average value of your application per hectare is more than £6,800, you will need to work with us to reduce the average value of your application by reducing the number of capital items to £6,800 per hectare.

You will need to work with your Forestry Commission Woodland Officer to make sure you understand what you need to do to prepare a credible woodland creation scheme (that is, that you have included all necessary tree protection measures) and how this relates to the payment cap.

In addition to costs for planting and protection, you can receive 40% of actual costs for capital item woodland infrastructure (item FY2) and fixed costs for small and large leaky woody dams (items RP32 and RP33). These items are not subject to the cap of £6,800 per hectare but your Woodland Creation plan needs to set out the reasons for including these items in your application.

5.4.2 Woodland Maintenance

To support the successful establishment and ongoing maintenance of new woodland, the Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement offers a multi-annual payment of £200 per hectare for a period of 10 years.

If you are eligible, and provided that you have met the objectives of the Woodland Creation element (capital agreement), you will be sent a letter to confirm that you wish to enter into a multi-annual payment agreement (woodland maintenance element).

The maintenance agreement will start on 1 January of the year after your creation agreement has ended.

We must receive your claim form by midnight on 15 May each year, unless this falls on a weekend or bank holiday, in which case we must receive your claim form by midnight on the next working day. Read section 8.4 for more information.

During the ten years of maintenance payments you must abide by the agreement. If you do not it may result in recovery of payments, including those made during the woodland creation element of the agreement.

No break clause is available at the five-year point as the funded Management must be in place for the full ten years of the agreement. However, if you are offered a place in Environmental Land Management you may be able to terminate your agreement early at the end of the calendar year.

If there is a change in land ownership or other change in land management control (for example, you sell the land under a Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant agreement) you cannot transfer the woodland creation element of the grant agreement (read section 7.7).

However, we will consider requests to transfer the maintenance element of a Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement to another party. You can find more details about this in section 7.7.

As a Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement holder you are subject to maintenance requirements on your newly planted woodland for 5 years from the final payment for capital works. This is regardless of whether or not you are eligible for, or opted out of, annual maintenance payments.

If any of the capital items in your Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant agreement are not maintained during the durability requirement (read section 2.2) we may recover monies from you.

Higher Tier requirements

As this is a Higher Tier option of the Countryside Stewardship you must comply with the mandatory elements of the Higher Tier. These are set out in the following sections of the Higher Tier manual:

Section 3: Who can apply and what land is eligible
Section 5: Scheme requirements and procedures
Section 6: Agreement Management
Annex 6: Common land (for common land and shared grazing applications only)

You should also be familiar with the Terms and Conditions of the Higher Tier.

Work can start on or after the 1 January agreement start date. For information on the records you need to keep, read the WD1: Woodland creation - maintenance payments option guide.

5.5 Score form

You are responsible for filling in the score form in the Woodland Creation and Maintenance annex. Points are available for the following objectives:

biodiversity (priority habitats and priority species)
water (quality and flood risk)
‘cross-cutting’ (including climate change mitigation, adaptation and partnership working)

The size of the application affects the score - a larger area of planting gets a higher score as does an application which scores under multiple objectives.

Each initial application needs to reach a minimum threshold score of 12 points to be eligible for further processing and must achieve points against biodiversity and/or water. Cross-cutting objectives (for example, climate change) can also achieve points, but each application must score against biodiversity and/or water as a minimum.

Because scoring is based on area you will need to identify the area within the priority areas for biodiversity or water. You can check this using the Forestry Commission map browser and Land Information Search (LIS). Scoring also takes into account the design of the woodland.

You can find information on how to design woodland that is priority habitat, reduces flood risk or improves water quality on the Forestry Commission National Archives. You can request advice from your Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) Officer on woodland for water quality objectives, only available if you are in a High Priority Area for Water Quality.

You can find information on Impact Risk Zones (IRZs) around Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) that may be affected by water quality on MAGIC website.

5.6 Prepare a map for your application

You need to provide a map which shows all areas of proposed woodland creation and associated capital items with your application. If your application is successful and we offer you an agreement, the map you sent with the application will become the “Agreement Map” so it needs to be clear, legible and meet the standards set out below (see 5.6.1).

You can create the application map yourself (as long as it meets the standards in 5.6.1), or you can request one from the Forestry Commission map request service. The agreement map needs to reflect the details recorded in the Woodland Creation and Maintenance annex, showing:

all land parcels and their land parcel reference numbers
the location of capital items applied for and the location of proposed maintenance work. Please list WD1 next to any area of maintenance.
any areas of open space within the area proposed for grant support. Integral open space must be limited to 20% of the total woodland area and individual areas of open space must not be more than 0.5ha. Areas larger than this can only be proposed in exceptional circumstances and you should discuss this with your FC officer. Open space includes forest tracks, rides, wayleaves and other permanent open areas.
other relevant information outlined in section 5.6.1.

As part of your application, supporting maps for the woodland creation plan should contain more detailed information about the woodland creation, for example, stocking density, species, rides and open areas (read section 5.6.1 for more information). Supporting maps should be based on OS based maps and/or Geographical Information System (GIS)-generated digital maps. Maps must be based on a scale of 1:2,500 or 1:5,000 or for large schemes 1:10,000. If you are using a GIS based map, add a scale bar to the map so that this can be used to measure lengths. If you make a mistake strike through it. Do not use correction fluid on your map.

If you send a map that does not meet these requirements or the minimum standards outlined in 5.6.1, the RPA will send you a new base map. You will need to complete this map to the minimum standard.

If you use the Forestry Commission map request service, you can highlight any existing Environmental Stewardship (ES) agreements on the land parcels proposed for tree planting. This means we can discuss initial eligibility issues with you. There will be more detailed eligibility checks undertaken throughout the application process.

You are responsible for providing updated maps if there are any changes agreed to your application.

5.6.1 Minimum mapping standards

When creating your application map (or marking capital items on the base map provided) you must comply with the following rules:

The map (or maps) must be based on a scale of 1:2500 or 1:5000 or for large schemes 1:10000
The map (or maps) must show the whole land parcel on which the capital items to be included are located
The map (or maps) must show the location of the proposed capital works (mark the capital items with a coloured pen and list the capital item code(s) next to them). This includes proposed planting areas
The map (or maps) must show any proposed areas of open space within the proposed planting areas
The map (or maps) must show fence lines – stating which type of fence (code) you are applying for
The map (or maps) should have a number (1, 2, 3, and so on). Include this map number and also the total number of maps, for example 1 of 3

You must also:

Write your Single Business Identifier (SBI) consisting of 9 digits, the application year, and agreement title (as detailed on the application form) on the top right of the map
Write the name of business or applicant – this should be the name (beneficiary) that is registered with us for the SBI, on the right hand side of the map
Write a 6 figure OS grid reference for the centre of the map on the bottom left of the map, if there are no numbered OS grid lines
If you make a mistake, strike through it. Do not use correction fluid on your map.

If you send a map that does not meet these standards we will send you a base map to mark up and return.

5.6.2 Additional Maps

You can and should provide additional maps to support your woodland creation plan. These maps should be based on an appropriate OS map (you can use the Forestry Commission map request service if needed) and include the following items:

planting design - showing species
water courses and open water
access tracks to be created and maintained
open ground map - showing and identifying features that justify/support internal open space for example, Public Right of Way, rides/tracks, wayleaves and so on.

You can see examples of a Site Appraisal Plan and Concept Design Plan at Create woodland: overview.

If you are including capital item FY2 in your application you must include a map showing the route of the proposed infrastructure, following the standards in section 5.6.1.

5.7 Authorising an agent

You can complete the application and claim forms yourself or authorise an agent.

If an agent will be acting on behalf of the business to complete an application and/or claim forms, you need to give them the appropriate permission levels within the Rural Payments Service.

If you have previously authorised an agent using the paper agent authorisation form you must now use the Rural Payments service to set the appropriate permission levels for the agent.

There is information on permissions in Rural Payments.

5.8 Why applications may be rejected

We may reject your application at any stage if:

you do not provide the information and evidence needed for a complete application
the application:
does not meet eligibility criteria
at initial submission, does not achieve minimum score (12 points)
after final submission, does not score highly enough to be prioritised against the available budget in the clearing round
does not meet the UK Forestry Standard and associated guidelines
is likely to cause harm to the environment.

We will also reject your application if you do not provide all necessary supporting evidence within the required timescale or we find an issue at a later date, for example we find a potential environmental issue after the agreement has gone live.

5.9 Restrictions on agricultural activity in woodland areas

You cannot use any land subject to a Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement for any agricultural activity, unless you have been granted permission by your Woodland Officer. This must last for a period of at least 5 years following the final capital payment or the period of any maintenance payments – whichever is longer. Once the Woodland Creation and Maintenance agreement starts the land is considered non-agricultural (regardless of when the trees are planted) because this is the point at which land is set aside for non-agricultural use. At this point you must submit an RLE1 form to notify the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) and register the land as a permanent non-agricultural area with an effective date of 1 January the following year.

Providing you meet all eligibility requirements, you can continue to claim Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) on land in the Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant agreement. If applicable, you will be required to take action to continue to correctly claim BPS after tree planting. You can find more information on claiming BPS with Woodland Creation and Maintenance in section 8. Read general advice on how woodland grant agreements affect BPS eligibility in Guidance on woodland grant schemes and BPS: operations note 42.

5.10 How we process your application

Before you can submit your final application the following must take place:

A Forestry Commission Woodland Officer must visit your site to review the application with you. They will check that the woodland design is appropriate and meets the UK Forestry Standard and check that the items you applied for are suitable.
The Forestry Commission will publicise the proposals on Public registers and consultation on forestry projects to make sure the local community knows about and can comment on the proposals to create a new woodland.
Consultation with any statutory consultees (organisations which must be notified or provide consent for the tree planting).

This means it will take at least 5-6 months for us to process your application. Timescales vary because each application is different, but we will process your application as quickly as possible. An application which involves the amendment of an existing Environmental Stewardship agreement, which requires consent or agreement from other parties because of potential impacts on designated sites and which includes the woodland infrastructure option (FY2) can take longer. During peak periods of work – such as when Forestry Commission Woodland Officers are negotiating Higher Tier applications from May to September - it may take longer for us to process your application.

The more preparatory work you can do to provide a detailed woodland creation plan based on prior engagement with key stakeholders the better, as it will help us to process your application. Contact your Forestry Commission Woodland Officer as early as possible to receive advice and guidance to develop your application and understand how long it will take for us to process it. Site visits needed as part of the application process can be carried out before you send your initial application. We recommend a joint site visit between you, Forestry Commission and any relevant statutory bodies if the application may need consent or agreement from other parties.

If you want to include the woodland infrastructure (FY2) item in your application you must confirm whether permitted development rights apply to the proposed road with your local planning authority (and relevant highways authority, as needed) as early as possible. You need to keep evidence that you have done this and send it with your claim. Where planning permission is required you will need to have this consent before you do the work and provide evidence of this when you submit your claim for FY2. If you are applying for FY2 you will also need to provide three quotes for the work. You must send this with your final application. If you provide this information earlier it will help us process your application quicker.

If your application is successful we will offer you a Woodland Creation and Maintenance grant agreement once we have completed the final checks, ranked your application and set the clearing score (see section 3.9). If your applicant is unsuccessful we will let you know after we have ranked it.

5.11 Your agreement start date

The woodland creation element of your agreement will start on the first of the month after the clearing score has been set (see section 3.9), However, so you can maximise the period of the planting seasons after you have ordered plants, you can defer the start date of your agreement for up to 6 months (after you submit your final application).

It is likely to take at least 5 to 6 months for your initial application to reach the point when you can submit a final application.

For example, an agreement offered following an initial application made in February 2021 and fully processed within 5 months would be issued with a start date of 1 July 2021. This start date would need the work to be completed by 30 June 2023. To provide time to order the plants and then maximise the planting periods after this, the agreement start date could be deferred from the point of final application by 6 months. In this example if the final application is submitted in February 2021 the agreement start date could be deferred until 1 August 2021, this would provide the full 21/22 and 22/23 planting seasons to complete the work.

You can ask to defer your start date in your application annex. If you do, we will try to defer it. You should discuss the likely start date with your Forestry Commission Woodland Officer.

The woodland maintenance element of your agreement will begin once your final capital claim has been paid. You may choose to opt out of this element of the agreement if you wish.

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