Correspondence

eAlert: 9 August 2022

Published 19 August 2022

Applies to England

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

1. England Woodland Creation Offer to transition into Local Nature Recovery scheme in 2025

Read about the EWCO into LNR transition.

EWCO into LNR

• The England Woodland Creation Offer will become part of the Local Nature Recovery (LNR) scheme - one of the new environmental land management (ELM) schemes - from 2025.
• Future Local Nature Recovery design and the approach to payment rates for planting trees will largely mirror those offered by EWCO - meaning there is no reason to delay tree planting.

The Forestry Commission has announced today (9 August) that from 2025, the England Woodland Creation Offer will become part of the Local Nature Recovery scheme – one of the new environmental land management schemes.

Future Local Nature Recovery design, and the approach to payment rates for planting trees, will largely mirror those within the England Woodland Creation Offer – meaning there is no reason to delay tree planting. The majority of new applications for woodland creation payments from 2025 will be made through the Local Nature Recovery scheme, or another environmental land management scheme depending on the size of the new woodland.

We expect existing England Woodland Creation Offer agreement holders will have the opportunity to transition their maintenance payments into the Local Nature Recovery scheme from 2026.

Richard Stanford, the Forestry Commission’s Chief Executive, said:

“Farmers and land managers can now have the confidence to grow trees under EWCO, safe in the knowledge that they will be able to easily transition into the Local Nature Recovery scheme in the future, and without the worry that future schemes will be significantly different.
Trees play an important role in providing shade and shelter for livestock, and reducing soil and nutrient loss. Given the recent hot dry weather it’s vital our farmers and land managers plan for the future to build in resilience to climate change and take advantage of the woodland creation incentives available today.”

Read more on the Future Farming and Countryside Programme blog.

2. Expansion of community forests across England

Millions of trees are set to be planted nationwide, thanks to £44.2 million in funding for Community Forests and woodland creation partners.

England’s 13 Community Forests, including the Humber and Mersey Forests as well as partners including the Northern Forest, National Forest and Great Northumberland Forest, are all set to benefit from the funding.
 
The funding will focus on:

• woodlands from Cornwall to Northumberland where millions of trees are set to be planted
• planting on areas with the lowest woodland cover
• planting to reduce flood risk
• new jobs within the forestry and environmental sectors

Collectively around 2,300 hectares of trees – equivalent to around 3,220 football pitches – will be planted as part of this year’s £44.2 million funding allocation.
 
More information can be found in the press release Major expansion of woodlands for communities across England.

3. Submitting your Countryside Stewardship Capital Claims? Make sure you follow these key points

3.1 Submitting your claim and evidence

• Rural Payments Agency (RPA) must receive your claim, supporting documents and any evidence, by the ‘claim by’ date in your agreement document. Late claims will be rejected
• check GOV.UK for information on evidence requirements for options included in your agreement
• find out which evidence you must submit to the RPA and which you must keep until you are asked for it. Requirements are available for Countryside Stewardship grants on GOV.UK
• submit claims no later than 3 months after the agreement end date. Claims must be for more than £500 unless it is the last (or only) claim

3.2 Receipted invoices/receipts

 
All invoices must be ‘receipted’ (signed and dated by the contractor to prove they have received your payment). Proof of payment can be any of the following:

• till receipts
• internet purchase receipts
• bank and or credit card statements where necessary
• schedule of works/timesheets, where you have used your own labour/machinery and none of the above are available

3.3 Photographs

For some items dated photographic evidence is required for an agreement. Please use these principles:

• dated photographs may be required – follow individual capital item guidance on GOV.UK
• ensure you meet the required quality of photographs on submission
• photographs must be clearly labelled – use the appropriate National Grid reference for each land parcel, followed by the proposed or implemented option or capital item shown. Image numbers should be used if multiple images are required per option/item. 

Information on Photographic Evidence can be found in section 5.4.4 – 5.4.6 in the Manual.

3.4 Woodland Management Plan Claims

 
Applicants should only submit their Woodland Management Plan (WMP) claim to the RPA after the Forestry Commission has approved the plan. Applicants will not be paid until the FC has approved the plan.
 
You must claim payment for your WMP in a single claim, once it has been approved by the Forestry Commission, and within 3 months following the agreement end date.
 
Information on claiming for Woodland Management Plans can be found in section 5.4 of the Manual.
 
Please contact the Rural Payment Agency for any claims queries at: ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk

4. Natural England’s free woodland creation consultation service

Find out about the new consultation service.

Natural England has a free new consultation service to help enhance woodland creation proposals for nature. It aims to help address the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss by facilitating more new trees in the best possible way for nature.
 
Advice is for land managers and farmers whose proposals could affect priority habitats, priority species, peat soils, public access or for early non-statutory consultations about protected sites.
 
Getting Natural England’s advice at the early stages of a project can help speed up the process of woodland creation and ensure benefits for nature are maximised, whatever the type of planned woodland. It also can help suggest ways to meet the environmental aspects of the UK Forestry Standard.

Contact: woodlandcreation@naturalengland.org.uk to express interest and receive a form. Once this is completed, Natural England will aim to respond within 20 working days.