Correspondence

eAlert: 27 April 2020 - How the Forestry Commission is supporting the forestry sector during the coronavirus outbreak

Published 27 April 2020

Updates on how coronavirus is impacting on our business and what we are doing to support the sector.

1. How the Forestry Commission is working with the sector through coronavirus

Sir William Worsley, the Chair of the Forestry Commission, looks at the steps we are taking to support the sector.

Read our Chair’s recent blog post about what we are doing to support the sector through coronavirus, including how the government has worked with industry to designate those involved in the supply of timber and woodfuel as key workers.

2. Forestry Commission staff are making site visits for priority regulatory work

We have relaxed the site visit suspension for priority work.

Since suspending all site visits (other than for critical tree health work) due to the start of the coronavirus lockdown five weeks ago, we have been working hard to ensure we do as much of our normal business as possible with our staff working at home, and we will continue to do that. In order to support the sector and keep our processes moving we will now conduct priority regulatory site visits where possible whilst following advice on social distancing. We will keep this under review and keep you informed of changes as needed.

3. Extension to the Annual Claim deadline for Countryside Stewardship (CS), Environmental Stewardship (ES) and Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)

You now have until 15 June 2020 to submit your claims.

The Government has confirmed that the window to claim annual payments has been extended. This is for Countryside Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship and Basic Payments Schemes – it also includes Forestry Commission farm woodland claims.

In light of the disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak you now have until 15 June 2020 to submit your farm woodland claims without penalty.

You are still encouraged to submit your claim as soon as possible. We are accepting claims via email and post, but because of delays with postal deliveries we would encourage you to email your claim or to obtain proof of posting a claim in the event that it might be delayed.

If you think you might have problems meeting the new deadline please contact your admin hub at the address below. This is also the place to email your claim form to:

• Bucks Horn Oak - adminhub.buckshornoak@forestrycommission.gov.uk this Hub generally covers the east of the country

• Bullers Hill - adminhub.bullershill@forestrycommission.gov.uk this Hub generally covers the west of the country

4. Coronavirus information from the Rural Payments Agency

Find out if you need to do something different.

The Rural Payments service is still available and you should continue to use this. There are however some options that may not be possible at this time – please read the full RPA guidance for more information.

Evidence for Capital Claims: If you have problems collecting all the evidence for your capital claim due to coronavirus illness or restrictions, please do all you can to submit your claim, making it clear that your evidence is missing due to coronavirus. Please continue to collect the evidence as soon as you are able to do so, and keep hold of it as we’ll ask for it at a later date.

RLE1 forms: You can use the Rural Payments service to transfer entitlements, transfer land that is already registered or you can add land by email. If you need to submit an RLE1 form, you must post this to us – following RPA guidance – as there is no email option available. If you are unable to reach the post, keep hold of your RLE1 form and we will provide information shortly on what you need to do.

If you have any concerns, please contact Rural Payments on:

• email: ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk
• telephone: 03000 200 301

5. Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier deadline remains unchanged as 1 May 2020

Please submit your applications as soon as you can.

The deadline for submitting applications remains as 1 May 2020. We continue to support customers and agents who are impacted by coronavirus, so if you have any difficulties with meeting the deadline then please call and advise us.

Natural England advisers and Forestry Commission woodland officers are aiming to continue providing technical advice on making applications.

If you have any problems and feel like you may not be able to meet the deadline please contact Rural Payments as soon as possible:

• email: ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk
• telephone: 03000 200 301

6. Apply for your Felling Licences online

Use our online service to ensure your Felling Licence application can be processed.

As our offices are currently closed and the majority of our staff are working from home, we need you to apply for Felling Licences using our Felling Licence Online service. Doing this means that your felling application will reach our staff for processing. We have restricted access to our offices so applications posted to us will be significantly delayed.

7. Don’t get penalised for breach of cross compliance regulations

We wanted to remind landowners that the closed period that places a ban on cutting and trimming hedges and trees between 1 March and 31 August (inclusive) is a cross compliance requirement under Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) 7a: Boundaries and GAEC 7c: Trees. If you are a Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Countryside Stewardship or Environmental Stewardship claimant, you must adhere to these requirements on eligible land being used for agriculture, which may include woodland (e.g. when used for grazing), or you could receive a reduction in your payment. Please note, fruit and nut trees in orchards, or trees acting as windbreaks in orchards, vineyards, hop yards or hop gardens are not included in the ban. Full details of the requirements can be found in ‘The guide to cross compliance in England 2020’.

Outside these cross compliance controls, tree felling regulations still apply. If you need a felling licence, you should use Felling licence Online to obtain one and wait for written permission before carrying out any work.

8. The next HS2 Woodland Fund deadline is next Friday

Get your application to us by 1 May for final winter 2020/21 funding allocations.

The next quarterly application assessment deadline for the HS2 Woodland Fund is next Friday, 1 May 2020. This is the last application cycle where funding allocations will be made for winter 2020/21, so get your application to us (at hs2woodlandfund@forestrycommission.gov.uk) by midnight next Friday if you are planning to plant this coming winter. Applications will we welcomed after that date for winter 2021/22 planting. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at the above email address if you have any questions.

9. £10m to boost tree planting in second auction of Woodland Carbon Guarantee

Sign up by 5 June 2020.

We recently announced that £10m will be available in the second auction of the Woodland Carbon Guarantee. Launched in November 2019, the Woodland Carbon Guarantee is a £50 million scheme that aims to help accelerate woodland planting rates and permanently remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Successful participants are offered the option to sell Woodland Carbon Units to the government over 35 years at a guaranteed price set by auction and protected against inflation, providing new income for land managers who help businesses compensate for their carbon emissions.

Land managers across England are encouraged to sign up to the scheme by 5 June 2020, ahead of the next auction which will take place online from 8 to 19 June. Applicants should bear in mind that it can take 1-2 weeks to complete the WCC registration and WCaG application processes. It is important to allow sufficient time for this ahead of the auction deadline. However this period can be shortened significantly by working with a project developer, the details of whom can be found on the WCC website.

10. Environmental Land Management (ELM) Policy Discussion Document paused until further notice

Due to the impacts of coronavirus, Defra has taken the decision to pause the ELM Policy Discussion Document. This means that for a temporary period of time, while the country is focused on tackling coronavirus, Defra will not be accepting any new responses to the Policy Discussion Document. Defra will reopen the Policy Discussion Document once it is feasible to do so, giving everyone the opportunity to respond. If you have already submitted a response, it is still valid and will be analysed along with all other responses received. If you have not already done so, we encourage you to sign up to the Defra e-alert to receive updated on ELM.

11. Let us know how we are doing

Please complete our customer survey.

If you have had a decision on a grant or regulation from the Forestry Commission recently then you should have had a link to complete our customer survey. Please do take the opportunity to give us some feedback as we have found this really useful in making improvements to the way we do business.