Correspondence

eAlert: 3 March - Local Authority Treescapes Fund and Urban Tree Challenge Fund reopen

Published 10 March 2022

Applies to England

• Publication for Northern Ireland
• Publication for Scotland
• Publication for Wales

1. Local Authority Treescapes Fund and the Urban Tree Challenge Fund reopen

Hundreds of thousands of trees are set to be planted in communities across England as applications for the Local Authority Treescapes Fund and the Urban Tree Challenge Fund reopen today.

Over £9 million will be allocated to successful applicants across both funds, which will support tree planting efforts and improve the environment for future generations as we build back greener from the pandemic. Read more about the announcement.

1.1 Local Authority Treescapes Fund

Now in its second round, successful applicants to the Local Authority Treescapes Fund will be allocated a share of £5.4 million for the planting of up to 650,000 trees in 2022/23. Projects will support local authorities to establish trees in different ways, from natural regeneration (where trees are left to naturally develop) to traditional planting. Community engagement is encouraged, and local authorities can bring together local residents, schools and environmental groups to restore trees in areas outside woodlands. These include riverbanks, parks, beside roads and footpaths, and within vacant community spaces – areas where treescapes are often highly degraded due to neglect or disease.

1.2 Urban Tree Challenge Fund

Trees make our towns and cities healthier and more pleasant places to be, helping to moderate temperatures, reduce pollution, decrease flood risk and improve people’s quality of life. If successful, applicants to the fourth round of the Urban Tree Challenge Fund will be awarded a share of more than £3.8 million – enough to fund the planting of over 28,000 large trees in both urban areas, and where rural and urban areas meet. This funding aims to grow the number of trees in and around deprived urban areas to bring people from all socio-economic backgrounds closer to nature.

There are several key differences between the Local Authority Treescapes Fund and the Urban Tree Challenge Fund. You can read our blog outlining these differences and offering guidance on how to apply for both funds.

In addition, the Tree Council, in partnership with Defra and ourselves, are holding a Q&A session on Tuesday 8 March offering guidance for local authorities on both funds. Sign up to attend on Eventbrite.

Applications for both funds are now open until 23:59 on Tuesday 31 May 2022. You can find out how to apply via the links below.

To see a helpful grant comparison to decide which scheme(s) you would like to apply for, have a look at our previous eAlert.

Find out more on our guidance pages:

• Urban Tree Challenge Fund
• Local Authority Treescapes Fund

2. Updated plant health requirements introduced to prevent the potential spread of Phytophthora Pluvialis

Phytophthora pluvialis is a fungus-like pathogen known to affect a variety of tree species, including western hemlock, Douglas fir, tanoak and several pine species (in particular radiata pine). It is reported to cause needle cast (where needles turn brown and fall off), shoot dieback, and lesions on the stem, branches, and roots.

Extensions to the existing demarcated areas in Devon and Cornwall have been made following further identifications of the pathogen in these areas. Investigations are ongoing into the first reported cases of the pathogen in woodlands in Surrey and, following further findings in Wales, a new demarcated area has been introduced in Herefordshire to combat any potential spread.

The introduction and extensions of demarcated areas help to prevent the accidental movement of tree pathogens. The Notices for introducing the demarcated area in Herefordshire, and extending the demarcated areas in Devon and Cornwall, will both come into force on Friday 4 March.

For full details see our Phytophthora pluvialis guidance page

3. RPA - Lump Sum Exit Scheme

Launched by the Rural Payments Agency on 8 February 2022 the scheme is for BPS applicants in England who wish to leave farming, either to retire or take up a different occupation.

To be eligible applicants must transfer their agricultural land in England (apart from up to 5 hectares which they can keep) or plant it with trees under a woodland creation scheme.

They must also transfer grazing and pannage rights if they have on common land in England and surrender (give up) English BPS entitlements.

Full details of the scheme can be found here lump-sum-exit-scheme

3.1 Lump Sum Exit Scheme and Woodland – what you need to know

Applicants to the scheme DO NOT have to:

• sell woodland because it is not agricultural land
• transfer agricultural land if they plant it with trees under a woodland creation scheme

3.2 If you have a legacy woodland creation scheme (EWGS, FWP, FWPS)

You do not have to transfer woodland under these schemes but you may consider selling all your land including the woodland.)

Any sale of woodland would be subject to the usual potential consequences of a failed succession if, after a sale, the buyer does not take on the scheme the liability to repay grant will remain with the seller.

The Forest Services Admin Hubs will be ready to process any successions in relation to any sale of land under this scheme following the usual FC policy and procedures. For more information about selling land under an FC Legacy scheme go to change-of-ownership-of-land-under-a-grant-scheme

You can also contact the Admin hub for your area.

Bucks Horn Oak Administrative Hub (for counties in the east):

• South East and London
• East and East Midlands
• Yorkshire and North East

Telephone: 0300 067 4420 Email: adminhub.buckshornoak@forestrycommission.gov.uk

Bullers Hill Administrative Hub (for counties in the west):

• South West
• North West and West Midlands

Telephone: 0300 067 4960 Email: adminhub.bullershill@forestrycommission.gov.uk

If you have a Countryside Stewardship or Nature for Climate Fund woodland creation scheme

3.3 Exiting agreements

You can keep any land which was in a woodland creation scheme on 17 May 2021, it does not have to be transferred because it is not agricultural land, however if you are also receiving BPS payments on newly created woodland then you must give up the BPS payments via the lump sum. You can keep any woodland maintenance payments in your agreement.

3.4 New Agreements:

ou can enter some or all of your agricultural land into woodland creation schemes instead of transferring it. These schemes are: any Nature for Climate Fund woodland creation scheme, such as the England Woodland Creation Offer or Woodland Creation Partnerships the Woodland Carbon Guarantee

You must be accepted under the woodland creation scheme and have planted this land with trees by 31 May 2024. The RPA will contact us to confirm that the planting has taken place.

You can find details of these schemes on our Plant the Future campaign site.

3.5 If you decide to sell!

If you sell all of your land under the exit scheme including the woodland, the existing rules of your woodland creation agreement will apply.

You may need to repay all or part of the payment you have received under that scheme if:

• you end your agreement early
• those taking on the land do not agree to take on the obligations of the existing grant agreement

You will need to transfer the obligations of any live agreement to the new owner, if you don’t and the new owner removes the trees you will be liable to repay any grant you received.

4. Woodland creation delivery partners to publish their proposals on to the Forestry Commission Public Registers

Following IT system development, non-Forestry Commission (FC) woodland creation delivery partners (organisations receiving funding from Defra for woodland creation, such as the Woodland Trust in the Northern Forest, and many Community Forests), will soon be able to publish and manage their own woodland creation applications on the FC’s Consultation and Decision Public Registers.

Once rollout is completed in late March 2022, comments made by the public on Defra woodland creation partner applications via the Consultation Public Register will be received directly by the partners themselves, streamlining public engagement and decision making processes. Decisions on grant offers made by the various woodland creation partners will also be published directly onto the FC’s Decision Public Register.

However, woodland creation delivery partners will still be required to submit separate applications to the FC for any relevant regulatory approval, for example, for afforestation projects under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Forestry) (England and Wales) Regulations 1999, where that is required.

4.1 Upgraded platform for Forestry Commission Public Registers coming soon

To enable Defra woodland creation partners to access the Forestry Commission’s Consultation and Decision Public Registers, the Registers will be moved over to a new platform.

The Public Registers will look and function very similarly to their current form, but their web addresses (URLs) will change. A redirection prompt will be in place so that there is minimal disruption to users.

It is anticipated that the move to the new platform will occur in late March 2022. An e-alert will be sent out closer to the time to confirm the changeover date and any impact of associated services and their availability.

4.2 Geographic Information System (GIS) data requirements

When submitting GIS data (shapefiles) to the Forestry Commission as part of a regulatory or grant application, please note that your GIS data must meet our requirements or your GIS data and application may need to be returned. For example, the Forestry Commission does not accept multi-part polygon features. There must be a single Compartment / sub-Compartment attribute label per polygon.

Please refer to the relevant guidance for your application for our full GIS requirements and further information.