Guidance

Statutory Plant Health Notice (SPHN) advice package

Updated 16 February 2024

This guidance was withdrawn on

The tree health pilot (THP) scheme 2023 is now closed for new applications.

Read the latest information about applying to the current tree health pilot scheme which is open for applications.

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tree-health-pilot-scheme-2023/statutory-plant-health-notice-sphn-advice-package

The Statutory Plant Health Notice (SPHN) advice grant is a £475 standard cost package. It contributes to:

  • the costs of agent advice and training
  • improving your ability to identify and deal with tree health issues, including responding to an SPHN
  • improving your long-term tree and woodland management by improving knowledge of effective biosecurity practices

Eligibility for the SPHN advice package

This grant is available to anyone with an SPHN for a tree health issue covering:

  • larch with Phytophthora ramorum
  • spruce with the eight-toothed spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus)
  • sweet chestnut with Phytophthora ramorum or sweet chestnut blight

The trees or woodland included in the SPHN must be in the:

  • North West
  • West Midlands
  • South East
  • London

What the package covers

The package includes:

  • funding for an agent consultation (for 4 hours) 
  • a biosecurity management plan, which the agent will help you to create as part of your consultation
  • biosecurity training  (webinars)
  • funding to professionally print Forestry Commission biosecurity signage
  • funding for a personal biosecurity kit

You’ll need to source your biosecurity kit and include in it:

  • a container or bucket large enough to immerse a boot in, such as a gorilla tub
  • a long handled, stiff plastic bristled brush
  • a boot pick to remove debris from between boot treads
  • a water container (2 to 5 litres)
  • disinfectant such as ‘Cleankill sanitising spray’ or ‘Propellar’
  • a vapour and flame proof container for disinfectant
  • Forestry Commission signage for biosecurity

Approved contractors for agent consultation

To show they’ve got the necessary experience in tree health and biosecurity, the agent you use must meet one or more of these requirements:

  • a degree or a diploma in forestry or a closely related subject
  • one years’ direct experience in dealing with tree health issues, organising forestry contracts and the practical aspects of woodland and tree management including creating biosecurity management plans

Current membership of relevant professional bodies is preferred.

The agent’s role

The agent will visit to discuss your obligations under the SPHN and how to improve your biosecurity practices. They’ll do this by creating a biosecurity management plan with you.

The agent will provide advice on:

  • good biosecurity practices
  • long-term management options to reduce future risk of pests and disease introduction
  • options for taking the support payment for felling inaccessible or uneconomic tree species covered in the SPHN
  • recovery and marketing of wood where possible
  • options to restock the land with new trees

After this visit, you’ll need to finalise your biosecurity management plan. The agent will need to sign it and submit it as evidence when you claim for the grant.

You can then either:

  • organise the work yourself
  • use the agent again without financial support of this grant for other services

You must follow the conditions set out above and in the tree health pilot (THP) SPHN advice package grant funding agreement terms and conditions.

What should you include in the biosecurity management plan

The biosecurity management plan should consider 3 areas.

The operational requirements and biosecurity measures of the SPHN

This should include:

  • compliance with the requirements of the notice from landowner, agent or contractors
  • implementation and maintenance of biosecurity protocols under the SPHN
  • communication of biosecurity information and knowledge to all on site

Awareness of biosecurity within woodlands and mitigating the spread of other pests and diseases

This should include:

  • understanding presence and transmission of other notifiable and non-notifiable pests and diseases
  • personal biosecurity habits and behaviours

Monitoring for future plant health threats and biosecurity risks

This should include:

  • monitoring woodland health
  • potential pests and diseases
  • how and when to survey

The plan needs to be signed by the agent who helped you design it.

Apply for this grant or return to the THP scheme 2023 guidance.

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