Guidance

Woodland Tree Health grant leaflet

Published 16 September 2020

Applies to England

1. What is a Woodland Tree Health grant?

The Woodland Tree Health grant is part of Countryside Stewardship. It’s a capital grant under which you can apply for support for one or both of the following:

• Woodland Tree Health Restoration provides support for restocking woodland after felling due to a tree health issue. Support is available if the trees to be felled have been infected with a particular disease or pest

• Woodland Tree Health Improvement provides support for the removal of diseased trees and infected rhododendron. The tree health issue needs to be verified to confirm eligibility for the grant.

You can apply for these grants individually or together. You have 2 years to finish the work in your agreement. The grants are not competitive so we do not score your application. However, a Woodland Officer will assess your site to make sure that the grant is appropriate.

We recommend that you have a woodland management plan for the affected woodland. Support to help you create a woodland management plan is available through Countryside Stewardship. You can find more information in the Woodland Management Plan grant manual.

2. What are the benefits?

It will help create a range of environmental and social benefits that:

• help protect and improve the resilience and environmental value of woodlands

• restore woodland after damage by a tree disease of pest.

3. Am I eligible?

To be eligible:

• you must have control of the land and all the activities needed to meet the requirements of the capital items included in the agreement for the full 2 years of the agreement and for the subsequent 5 years from the date of final payment
• you must be registered in the Rural Payments service
• your land must be registered in the Rural Payments service and linked to your Single Business Identifier (SBI)
• the land must meet the definition of woodland. Woodland is defined as an area of land that:
  • is at least 0.5 hectares
  • has an average width of at least 20 metres
  • is under groups/lines of trees that are, or will reach, at least 5 metres in height and with a crown cover of more than 20% of the ground area.

The following land is not eligible and you cannot include it on your application:

• land subject to another Rural Development scheme
• land subject to another obligation which is not compatible with Countryside Stewardship
• land not entirely within England.

You can find full details on what is eligible in the Woodland Tree Health Grant manual.

4. What can I apply for?

There are 10 capital items available under Woodland Tree Health Restoration. TE4 (Tree planting) is mandatory. The other items are optional and support tree planting.

Code	Capital item	Payment Rate
TE4	Tree planting	£1.28/tree
TE5	Individual tree shelter	£1.60/unit
FG1	Fencing	£4/m
FG2	Sheep netting	£4.90/m
FG4	Rabbit fencing supplement	£2.50/m
FG5	Fencing supplement – difficult site	£1.24/m
FG9	Deer fencing	£7.20/m
FG12	Wooden field gate or wooden wings	£390/gate
FG14	Badger gate	£135/gate
FG15	Water gates	£240/gate

There are 2 capital items available under Woodland Tree Health Improvement.

Code	Capital item	Payment Rate
SB1	Felling diseased trees	Between £260 and £1,680 per hectare
SB6	Rhododendron Control	Between £2,800 and £4,400 per hectare

5. Payment caps

Payments under the Woodland Tree Health Restoration are subject to a cap that limits the amount that can be paid. The cap is based on the average grant per hectare and includes the cost of trees and additional capital items.

The cap ranges from £1,750 to £3,500 per hectare and depends if you are planting native or non-native trees and if the site is an ancient woodland.

6. What the grant cannot pay for

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

• any capital works you start before the agreement start date
• planning application fees or other transactional fees
• agent fees or other advisory fees
• meeting legal requirements, including planning conditions.

7. How do I apply?

You can apply for a Woodland Tree Health grant at any time - applications are open throughout the year.

1. Make sure your land is eligible
2. Register your land in the Rural Payments service
3. Choose which capital items to apply for
4. Get approval, consents and permissions (if needed)
5. Prepare a map to send with your application and any documents you need to support it
6. Submit your application by email or post.

The application form is available online, search for ‘Countryside Stewardship forms’.

If you cannot get online, call us on 03000 200 301 to request an application pack.

8. More information

Read more information about the Woodland Tree Health grant and other Woodland Support grants on the Countryside Stewardship: How to apply pages. Other woodland support grants available include:

• Woodland Creation Grant: a capital grant to plant and protect young trees

• Woodland Creation Maintenance payment: an annual payment to help maintain your woodland. Available through Higher Tier as part of the Woodland Creation Grant

• Woodland Management Plan Grant: a capital grant to support the production of a UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) compliant 10-year plan for managing woodland

• Woodland Improvement: an annual payment to help improve your woodland. Available through Higher Tier, you need to have an approved Woodland Management Plan to apply.

9. What else is available under Countryside Stewardship?

The other main parts of the Countryside Stewardship scheme are:

• Higher Tier – Higher Tier is for land that requires more complex management tailored to the individual site

• Mid Tier – Mid Tier provides 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 their farm. The offers are:
  • Arable Offer;
  • Lowland Grazing Offer;
  • Upland Offer; and the
  • Mixed Farming Offer
• Facilitation Fund - supports individuals and organisations working with local groups of farmers and land managers, to co-ordinate their environmental land management.

For more information about these schemes, go to GOV.UK and search for ‘Countryside Stewardship’.