eAlert: 17 January 2022 - Increase to EWCO maintenance payments
Published 18 January 2022
Applies to England
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In this eAlert, read about the increase to our England Woodland Creation Offer maintenance payment rate, changes to our Countryside Stewardship woodland offers and news on Defra’s Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery schemes.
1. England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) maintenance payment rate change
The Maintenance Payment rates for the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) have been increased from £200 to £300 per hectare, per annum. This change is applied to all new and existing Grant Recipients. If you have an agreement we will be in touch to confirm the change to your agreement and if you have an application we will apply this change when we make any offer of a grant agreement.
The scheme documents have been updated to reflect this change and are now live on GOV.UK.
2. Changes to Countryside Stewardship woodland offers
2.1 Information on improvements to Countryside Stewardship woodland incentives.
As a result of the Countryside Stewardship (CS) revenue payment rate change, Woodland Creation Maintenance (WD1) option will increase from £200 to £300 per ha per year – applicable to all existing and new CS Agreements 1 January 2022 onwards.
Woodland Improvement (WD2) payment rate was out of scope for the review whereby we are introducing 4 new area based options (effective with agreements that will start 1 January 2023 onward) to supplement the management of the woodland through focusing on specific activities, threats and requirements relevant to a specific site. Where applicable, woodland supplements will be ‘stackable’ thus allowing to improve your woodland through a range of options.
Details on management requirements, option descriptions, best practise and local support will be published in February (with the opening of the HT window). We are working on 2 new spatial layers to accompany eligibility, but we will allow Woodland Officers’ discretion. Woodland supplements will not be scored, but WD2 remains its threshold with regards to priority objectives.
We’re also implementing support to smaller woodlands by uplifting WD2 payment to a minimum of £1000 per year (effective with agreements start date 1 January 2023 onward) – this means that if you’re agreement is less than 10ha in WD2 size, your annual payment will be that of equal of 10ha. We hope this will incentivise smaller woodland owners to bring their woodlands into active management. Supplements, if applicable, are compatible with the minimum WD2 payment uplift and will be valued on their actual size.
We are expanding on the range of options compatible with the WD2:
- Historic Environment capital items and area based options will be compatible with the WD2 from applications made in 2022 onwards
- Veteran tree surgery will be compatible with the WD2 as well
To improve the offer for new and existing woodland customers, we are making woodland infrastructure FY2 into a standalone offer which will be open all year round thus giving more flexibility when consulting with us and Local Authorities.
3. Countryside Stewardship revenue options payment rate change
3.1 Defra has completed a review of the Countryside Stewardship revenue payment rates.
Defra has reviewed CS revenue payment rates based on current costs. The new rates published on GOV.UK will apply to all Countryside Stewardship agreements from 1 January 2022.
This means from 1 January 2022, payment rates for many revenue options will increase but some will stay the same or decrease.
3.2 Revenue agreements which begin on or before 1 January 2022
If you have a revenue agreement, or an application for a revenue agreement starting on or before 1 January 2022, then where the new rate has:
- increased, the new (higher) rate will be paid
- decreased, the existing (higher) rate shown on the signed agreement will be paid
- not changed, the existing rate shown on the signed agreement will be paid
For new agreements starting from 1 January 2023 all of the new revenue rates will apply.
Full details of the changes will be included in the relevant Countryside Stewardship scheme manuals, available on GOV.UK when the scheme opens in February 2022.
The Defra review related to payment rates for revenue options. There are no plans to change payment rates for capital options for 2022.
For any queries please contact ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk or call the RPA on 03000 200 301 (Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm). Please give the SBI and any relevant Agreement number.
4. Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery schemes
Last Thursday (6 January 2022), Defra unveiled the next stages of its plan to reward farmers, land managers and landowners for actions which benefit the environment, supporting sustainable food production alongside vital nature recovery and work towards net zero.
The Local Nature Recovery scheme will pay farmers and land managers for locally-targeted actions which make space for nature in the farmed landscape and countryside such as creating wildlife habitat, planting trees or restoring peat and wetland areas. The Landscape Recovery scheme will support more radical changes to land-use change and habitat restoration such as establishing new nature reserves, restoring floodplains, or creating woodland and wetlands.
Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference, Environment Secretary George Eustice said:
Local Nature Recovery will replace the existing Countryside Stewardship scheme. Most holdings have a part of the farm that is perhaps not really suitable for crop production, or less productive, or difficult to work. There is an opportunity to make those parts of the holding a special space for nature. It could be a part of the field, could be an area in a valley that’s particularly suited to this where there’s an opportunity to create water features and ponds. To establish woodland creation within that farm holding. To establish species-rich grassland, and to replicate some of the conditions of traditional meadows, many of which we’ve lost, and to create breeding areas for wildlife.
As part of his speech, Minister Eustice also announced ‘that we are increasing the payment rates for Countryside Stewardship. On average, we are going to increase rates in Countryside Stewardship by around 30%.
5. Forestry Commission: Inspiring Woodland Creation Webinar - 3 February 9-10.30am
The Forestry Commission is hosting a webinar designed to help farm advisors and those working with landowners and farmers to:
- find out more about the support available from FC for woodland creation
- learn who the points of contact are within your area and understand what we can and can’t help with
- understand how the Woodland Creation Payment Grant and the England Woodland Creation Offer work
- understand how woodland creation schemes will be assessed
- find out about other sources of funding eg. Woodland Trust
- provide a Woodland creation checklist
The session is scheduled to last for 1.5 hours with the opportunity to ask questions.
6. Read about the Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Fund projects in our latest blog post
The Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Funds will distribute almost £700,000 to 17 projects restoring biodiversity in vulnerable natural habitats, helping woodlands adapt to a changing climate and aiding their recovery from the impacts of pests and diseases.
7. New support and guidance tools introduced for managing Oak Processionary Moth (OPM)
7.1 The Forestry Commission is providing a package of new guidance and support for landowners and the public to help with the management of OPM.
As OPM season begins in March, changes to the operational boundaries of the management zones will be implemented to further restrict the spread of the pest. An expanded Established Area will also be created to cover the main area of infestation.
New support will provide landowners in the Established Area with greater flexibility in managing OPM according to local circumstances and individual site risks, aided by two new forms of financial support, the Private Resident’s Pilot and the Tree Health Pilot.
You can read about all these changes on our newly created OPM guidance page.
8. Generic Contingency Plan for Plant Health in England
Following a review of England’s plant health outbreak management process in 2020, a number of improvements have been made to help the Plant Health Service in England respond rapidly and effectively to an outbreak. These changes are reflected in the new Generic Contingency Plan for Plant Health in England, which was published at the beginning of this year. This plan has been developed by Defra in collaboration with the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Forestry Commission, Fera Science Ltd, Forest Research and the Devolved Administrations (DAs).
It explains how the Plant Health Service in England will manage outbreaks of plant pests. In particular, it covers the physical and human resources that are required for an outbreak response and describes the outbreak management process. While it does not cover plant pest outbreaks in the United Kingdom (UK) outside of England in detail, the plan does describe the role of the DAs in an outbreak response in England, including when outbreaks cross from England into DA territories.
The Generic Contingency Plan for Plant Health in England can be found on the Plant Health Portal.