Correspondence

eAlert: 24 November 2020 - Urban Tree Challenge Fund successes

Published 25 November 2020

Applies to England

24 November 2020

This edition you can read about the success of the Urban Tree Challenge fund, find out how to get ahead and plan your winter 2021/22 tree planting and find out how we have listened to our customer requests to provide CS manuals as pdf’s.

You can also find out how successful Countryside Stewardship applications have been, book onto a webinar for importers and exporters of plants and plant products and finally find out how we have worked to integrate the revised Woodland Creation Planning Grant with the Environmental Impact Assessment process.

1. 134,000 trees to be planted for communities through Urban Tree Challenge Fund

More than 50 projects led by community and volunteer groups, councils and individuals have been awarded a share of a £10 million pot.

The funding to increase tree numbers in urban areas through small-scale planting projects has been awarded as part of the second round of the Forestry Commission’s Urban Tree Challenge Fund. The second round will result in the planting of over 84,000 trees in towns and cities across England. The new trees will provide benefits to health and wellbeing, connect people with the outdoors, improve biodiversity, as well as play a crucial role in the fight against climate change. Today’s announcement means that there will be a combined total of up to 134,000 new trees planted across England’s towns and cities, which surpasses the Fund’s original target to plant 130,000 trees.

Successful projects include:

  • the Darlington Forest project in County Durham, which will extend an existing green corridor in the area with the planting of 6,800 trees to improve the environment for wildlife as well as local communities. The area runs alongside the trackbed of the first passenger steam railway and will help showcase Darlington’s heritage
  • 7,500 new trees in Eastbourne, East Sussex, to form part of a wider programme of natural environment improvement across the area
  • 952 new trees across two sites for the Christchurch project in Dorset. The planting of native species will provide a natural traffic noise and pollution buffer, improve their look and provide a refuge for wildlife
  • 8,234 new trees in Durham which will be planted at a number of locations to extend and link existing woodlands to enhance biodiversity and habitat connectivity, and improve areas of reclaimed land whilst also benefiting local communities

The Forestry Commission continue to contact additional successful applicants who may be awarded funding in the coming weeks.

Grants from the Urban Tree Challenge Fund are administered by the Forestry Commission, and successful applicants are match-funding the money they receive. The money will fund the planting of trees and the first three years of their care to ensure they can flourish into the future.

There are a range of grants and incentives available from the Forestry Commission and Countryside Stewardship for woodland creation planning, planting, tree health and woodland carbon incentives. Visit the Forestry Commission website for more information on creating woodlands.

2. Plan your winter 2021/22 planting!

The HS2 Woodland Fund is open to woodland creation and PAWS restoration applications for planting in winter 2021/22.

Winter 2021/22 might seem a long way off, but applying now to get an agreement early next year, would leave you plenty of time to arrange plant supply and contractors afterwards. Remember that the golden rule of grant schemes is that no work (including ordering plants) can take place before you formally enter a grant agreement, so planning ahead to get an agreement in place well before the planting season makes a lot of sense. You could receive:

  • up to £8,500 per (gross) hectare of planting for woodland creation plus a ten year maintenance payment at £200 per hectare per annum
  • up to £4,000 per (net) hectare to cover tree planting costs for PAWS restoration, plus funding for capital items (such as fencing) over and above tree planting.

Get in touch with your local Woodland Officer or email hs2woodlandfund@forestrycommission.gov.uk for more information.

3. Countryside Stewardship woodland manuals also available online as PDF’s

We have passed on your feedback and are pleased to be able to offer the manuals in another format.

Responding to calls from the Forestry Commission and using evidenced support from the sector, the RPA team have produced PDF version of the following manuals:

You can find the downloadable and printable PDF at the start of the manual in the ‘print or download this guidance’ section.

4. Woodland creation and tree planting through Countryside Stewardship

Interest in woodland creation through the Countryside Stewardship Woodland Creation Grant continues.

  • 98 Countryside Stewardship woodland creation applications approved this year
  • 589ha of new woodland will be created through these applications
  • 1-31ha is the range of new woodland sizes

To date this year 98 Woodland Creation Grant schemes covering 589ha have been approved. They range from 1ha (a scheme designed for water objectives) to 31ha. There are also a number of schemes in the final stages of agreement preparation. Attention is focused on turning these remaining applications into agreements as soon as possible so that the new woodlands can be planted this season.

Applications for tree planting under Woodland Tree Health grants are also being assessed. To date in 2020 over 60 agreements have been sent out. Applications for Woodland Tree Health grants are increasing as the impacts of Ash Dieback become increasingly immediate and widespread.

5. Webinars for traders of plant products between GB and EU/NI

Register to join the free webinars to learn more.

Find out what you need to do to import or export plants and plant products between GB and the EU/NI from 1 January 2021. There are three webinars available, find out more and register today.

These webinars are for importers and exporters of plants and plant products, and will cover:

  • what you need to do to import/export plants and plant products between Great Britain (GB) and the European Union (EU) and Northern Ireland (NI)
  • what you need to do to move plants internally in GB
  • steps you need to take before 31 December 2020
  • guidance, documents, and links
  • support and advice opportunities available

6. Integrating Woodland Creation Planning Grant and EIA

With the relaunch of the WCPG, the Forestry Commission has taken the opportunity to integrate the revised planning grant with the Environmental Impact Assessment application process.

From now on, where an applicant has an approved stage 2 WCPG plan, this can now be submitted alongside the non-grant funded EIA afforestation form when applying for a non-grant funded EIA decision. If an afforestation EIA application is accompanied by an approved stage 2 WCPG plan, then the environmental information sections of the EIA form do not need to be completed. This ought to save applicants from having to copy and paste information from one document to another. This is now highlighted to applicants on the revised EIA form.

As a reminder to applicants, if you intend to apply for both the WCPG and a non-grant funded EIA decision, the EIA application should always be submitted after approval for WCPG is granted in order to avoid becoming ineligible for WCPG.

The above integration between WCPG and EIA relates solely to non-grant funded EIA applications. This is because EIA requirements are already built into most woodland creation grants administered in full or in part by the FC. If you intend to submit a woodland creation grant application (e.g. via the Woodland Carbon Fund, Countryside Stewardship, etc.) following the approval of a WCPG plan then you should continue to do this in the usual way.