Hot and dry weather: temporary support for trees and woodland in 2022
Find out about extraordinary payments for replanting trees and woodlands in exceptional circumstances after the hot and dry weather.
Applies to England
At the end of July 2022, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) published guidance for farmers and land managers, who were facing difficulties meeting requirements for rural grant and payment schemes due to the hot and dry weather. The Forestry Commission (FC) also published advice in an eAlert on 18 August 2022.
Since then the FC, RPA and Defra have worked together to put in place a support package for agreement holders who have lost a high proportion of trees planted in winter 21/22: Extraordinary Payments for Replanting in Exceptional Circumstances (EPREC).
EPREC will pay a standard cost to supply and plant trees to replace those lost due to this summer’s exceptionally hot and dry weather. It will be available for the following grants:
- England Woodland Creation Offer
- Urban Tree Challenge Fund
- Local Authority Treescapes Fund
- Tree Health Pilot
- HS2 Woodland Fund
- Woodland Carbon Fund
- Countryside Stewardship: Woodland Creation Grant and Tree Heath Restoration - Countryside Stewardship agreement holders will be contacted directly by RPA in due course
In the next few days we will be writing to agreement holders who may be eligible for EPREC. This letter explains more about the grant and how to make an application - agents should note we may send this to agreement holders.
EPREC support is only available for trees planted last winter. This is to focus help on the agreement land with the youngest trees - those most at risk to harm from this summer’s drought. Agreement holders will need to cover a proportion of the costs to replace losses themselves.
To support their applications, agreement holders will need to provide information on the extent of tree losses in the form of a beat-up assessment and photographs. We may also make a site visit to confirm the extent of the tree losses and that the trees have died due to the extreme weather.
Where EPREC support is offered we expect the replanting to take place this winter.
If you believe you are eligible according to the above conditions and do not hear from us, please email us with details of your case to the relevant email address below, marking your email EPREC:
- England Woodland Creation Offer - ewco@forestrycommission.gov.uk
- Urban Tree Challenge Fund - UTCF@forestrycommission.gov.uk
- Local Authority Treescapes Fund - LATF@forestrycommission.gov.uk
- Tree Health Pilot - THpilotenquiries@forestrycommission.gov.uk
- HS2 Woodland Fund - hs2woodlandfund@forestrycommission.gov.uk
- Woodland Carbon Fund - wcf@forestrycommission.gov.uk
- [[[Countryside Stewardship: Woodland Creation Grant (WCG) and Tree Heath Restoration - ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk
It is important to note that the EPREC does not require nor replace the force majeure process. If you feel you need to give notice of force majeure the advice in the RPA update in July and in the FC eAlert of 18 August 2022 stands and we recommend you undertake a beat-up survey as soon as possible.