Complete your application
Use this section to help you complete your application. You must also complete applications map(s) – read Annex 1 and the ‘Supporting documents’ section.
Before you start your application you must read the scheme rules, search for Woodland Management Plan grant on GOV.UK.
After you’ve signed in to the Rural Payments service, click ‘View business’. Scroll down the ‘Business overview’ screen and click ‘Countryside Stewardship applications’.
If you cannot see the ‘Countryside Stewardship applications’ link, you should check that you have the correct permission level to create an application. For more information read the ‘Check your permission levels’ section. If you still cannot see the link after your permission level has been updated in the Rural Payments service, you should ‘sign out’ then ‘sign in’ again, to refresh your account.
Use the Countryside Stewardship application screens to apply online for the Woodland Management Plan grant.
There’s a ‘Help’ link on the screens that will take you through each process step-by-step.
On the Countryside Stewardship applications screen, click the green button for the offer you want to ‘Apply’ for.
When your application is successfully created a ‘Successful’ message will appear.
Scroll down the screen and click ‘Back’ to return to the previous screen where you can ‘open’ your application. Read the ‘Open your application’ section.
After you’ve successfully created your application, you’ll see it in the ‘Countryside Stewardship applications’ screen with its own application number. The status will be ‘Application Created’.
Click ‘Open’ to continue your application.
Using the list on your screen, you can add details to your online application using ‘Edit your application’, or use the other choices to create the land parcel warnings report again and application summary.
Click ‘Edit your Application’.
A list of everything you need to do in your application appears.
To make it easier for you to identify the agreement, give your agreement/application a name. Enter a name into the box and then click ‘Save’ and ‘Close’ to return to the previous screen. You can use both letters and numbers in the agreement name.
You must answer all the eligibility questions.
Click ‘Eligibility’ and answer each question with a Yes or No.
You must answer all the questions accurately, as the answers are used to assess your eligibility.
For more information about eligibility read ‘Who Can Apply’ in the scheme manual. Search for ‘Woodland Management Plan’ on GOV.UK.
First question – you must be able to answer ‘Yes’ to confirm that you have management control through the agreement. If you answer ‘No’, you must remove the land parcels and relevant options from this application which you do not have management control over.
Second question – you must be able to answer ‘Yes’ to confirm that you are not seeking funding in this application for the activities outlined in the question. If you answer ‘No’, because you cannot give the confirmation, you must remove the options from this application that would provide this funding.
The remaining questions are self-explanatory and also need to be completed before you can progress the application.
Click ‘Save’ after you’ve completed all of the questions and you’ll receive a message confirming the details have ‘saved’ successfully. If you have not answered a question, a message will appear in red asking you to answer it.
After you’ve successfully saved your answers, click ‘Close’ to return to the previous screen.
All woodland on your holding should be included in your woodland management plan. Therefore, you need to add all your land parcels to your application that contain woodland. However, you should not include any land parcels that are already covered by another CS application or agreement. For more information about including all your woodland search for Woodland Management Plan or read about capital item PA3 in Countryside Stewardship grants both are on GOV.UK.
Click ‘Locations of woodland (parcels under agreement)’.
Click ‘Import parcels’ to open a window with a list of all of the land parcels under your SBI.
The screen shows a list of all parcels associated with your SBI. The system shows the very latest live parcel information. If a land parcel is missing read the ‘Check and Change’ section.
You can then add individual land parcels you want to include in your application.
To add land parcels to your application one at a time click ‘Add’ next to each land parcel you want to include. After you’ve added a land parcel, the ‘Add’ button changes to ‘Remove’. Click ‘Remove’ to take land parcels from your application.
Or you can add all of the land parcels in the list together by clicking ‘Import all parcels’.
Check land parcel warnings
After you’ve added all of the required land parcels to the application you can check whether any of them are already included in another application or agreement.
To check whether they’re in a live agreement, ‘View and print your Parcels under agreement warnings report’.
To check whether they’re in another application click ‘Check Parcels’, and a new column will appear for ‘Parcel Availability’:
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If the land parcel is not in another application a tick will show next to the relevant land parcel details.
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If any land parcel is already in another type of application, a green ‘Warning’ button will appear for that land parcel. You must remove all land parcels with warnings, as explained later in this section.
Your list of land parcels may extend over 2 or more pages depending on the number of land parcels you have. The number of pages of land parcels shows at the bottom of the list. Click the single arrow to move to the next page of the list.
If there are no warnings in the ‘Parcel availability’ column, and you want to use all of the land parcels in the list in your application, click ‘Close’ to continue your application.
Click ‘Remove’ to take the land parcel from the application. Or click ‘Remove all parcels with warnings’ if you want to remove all land parcels together.
A message will appear to confirm that the land parcel is removed from the application.
Click ‘Close’ to leave the land parcel screen.
IMPORTANT: Remember to ‘View and print your Parcels under agreement warnings report’ which will list all the land parcels that are already in a live agreement.
Return to the parcels under agreement screen to ‘Remove’ any of the land parcels listed in the report. Read the ‘Parcel under agreement warnings report’ section for more information about creating the report.
Read about what land is eligible in the scheme manual by searching Woodland Management Plan on GOV.UK.
Click ‘PA3 – Woodland management Plan – Area covered’.
You must enter the area (in hectares) of the eligible woodland. The area must be 3 hectares or more.
For more information about eligible woodland search for Woodland Management Plan or read about capital item PA3 in Countryside Stewardship grants, both are on GOV.UK.
You must complete this declaration or you cannot submit your application.
Read all of the declarations and undertakings. Use the scroll bar at the side of the declaration to read it all.
Then click ‘Yes’ to confirm that you accept the declarations and responsibilities, then click ‘Close’.
You should create (generate and download) your application summary before submitting your application to RPA.
Using the list on your screen, you can ‘View and print’ details about your online application before you submit it:
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application summary – shows all the information you’ve added to your application – create it after you’ve filled in your application
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parcel warnings report – another chance to check that the land parcels you’ve added to your application are not in another application or agreement.
Application summary
This summary shows the information you have entered into your application. It’s important that you use it to check you’ve given the correct information, before you submit your application. Then if needed, you can go back into your application and change it.
(You also get another opportunity to create an application summary after you’ve submitted your application to RPA to keep as a record of the application you’ve submitted.)
Click ‘View and print your application summary’.
Click ‘Generate’ to create the document.
The first time you generate the document the ‘Download’ button will not be clearly visible. When the document is ready the ‘Download’ button turns green and the button will now always be visible. The date and time that appears next to the Download button tells you when the document was last updated with the information in your application.
After you’ve generated the document, click ‘Download’ to see the document.
If you always click ‘Generate’ before you click ‘Download’, you’ll always see the most up to date information in your application.
You can read the summary on screen by scrolling down the pages or you can print or save it for your records by using the buttons that appear when you place the cursor near the middle point at the bottom of the screen.
Do not send it to us as a paper form – we cannot accept it.
Parcels under agreement warnings report
This warnings report lists any land parcels that need to be removed from your application. This is because they are already included in a live agreement or another application. The report also shows details of the agreement or application that the land parcels are currently included in, and the status of that agreement or application. For more information read ‘Check land parcel warnings’ in the ‘Complete’ section.
If all of the land parcels in your application are available to use, the report will not contain any information.
Click ‘View and print the Parcel under Agreement warnings report’.
To create your report follow the instructions in the Application summary section.
You can read the report on screen by scrolling down the pages or you can print or save it for your records by using the buttons that appear when you place the cursor near the middle point at the bottom of the screen.
You must return to the land parcel screen to remove all the land parcels from your application that appear in the warnings report.