Guidance

Woodland Creation Planning Grant

Find out how to apply for the Woodland Creation Planning Grant to support your development of a proposal to create woodland.

Applies to England

Landowners, land managers and public bodies (other than Forestry England) can apply to the Forestry Commission to support the design of new woodland under the Woodland Creation Planning Grant (WCPG). 

You can apply for £1,500 to complete Stage 1 of the Woodland Creation Planning Grant application and plan. This is focused on a desk-based exercise to identify the constraints and opportunities that may affect the proposed planting. If there is potential for woodland creation to take place on the site, you will be offered a Stage 2 payment. Stage 2 offers funding at a rate of £150 per hectare, minus the £1,500 paid at Stage 1, to complete Stage 2 of the Woodland Creation Planning Grant application and plan.

You may get supplementary payments for specialist survey work if a need for them is identified at Stage 1. 

You will never be paid less than £1,500 for approve Stage 1 work and a minimum of £500 for approved Stage 2 work.

The total amount of funding you can receive is capped at £30,500 per project. 

Read our Woodland Creation Planning Grant leaflet (PDF, 1.19 MB, 4 pages) for a helpful overview of the scheme.

How to apply for WCPG step by step

  1. Find out if you’re eligible by talking to your Woodland Creation Officer and reading the grant terms and conditions on our forms page.

  2. Make an application using the guidance on our forms page. Always check the forms page to make sure you are working to the latest guidance and version of the application form.

  3. Once your application is approved and you have accepted a Stage 1 agreement offer, you may start work on your woodland design plan.

You can apply all year-round. The Forestry Commission aims to respond to your application within 15 working days. It may take longer if the application includes untrialled tree species or is in a sensitive location. You must have a signed agreement in place before you start work.

Find out if you’re eligible

You must plan to create woodland that is: 

  • located in England
  • a minimum of 5 hectares or more in total size. If the proposed woodland is split into different blocks, each block must meet the definition of woodland set out by the National Forest Inventory: a minimum area of 0.5 hectares and a minimum width of 20 meters

If  you intend to seek grant aid to plant the woodland,  you should consider the minimum areas required to apply for grants for woodland creation  when planning your proposal.

You’ll need the landowner’s consent and signature if you don’t own the land, and the Forestry Commission may ask to see your tenancy agreement to confirm your land management responsibilities.

Landscape-scale applications that span multiple land holdings may be accepted. You do not need to own or control the land, but you will need a letter confirming that the landowner(s) support the application. If your proposed site spans a border, we will only make a Stage 2 payment of £150 per hectare on the land that is in England.

You may include more than 20% of designed open space in your plan if the constraints of your site make this necessary, but the total Stage 2 payment will be limited to the net planting area plus 20% (of the gross area). This means that any designed open space in your plan over and above 20% of the total project area will not receive funding.

If you’ve already applied for the England Woodland Creation Offer, Countryside Stewardship, the Woodland Carbon Fund, the HS2 Woodland Fund, or submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment  (EIA) enquiry form to plant a new woodland, you are not eligible to apply for Woodland Creation Planning Grant on that site. 

If you are already in receipt of a WCPG Stage 1 agreement offer, you may request the addition of new blocks of proposed woodland over 0.5 hectares. If we agree to these additions, any future Stage 2 offer will include these areas.

To bring new blocks into their agreement, Stage 1 agreement holders will need to submit a revised Woodland Creation Planning Grant Application and Plan with Stage 1 tabs amended to account for the expanded project area. No additional Stage 1 payment will be made.

In most instances we retrospectively add new areas to agreements already subject to an existing Stage 2 offer. This is to ensure new areas are suitably assessed for sensitivities and constraints through the Stage 1 process. If you are an agreement holder at Stage 2 and would like to extend the project area you will need written agreement from your Woodland Creation Officer to add new areas. The decision to allow this will be at the FC’s discretion and may result in you having to submit a new application for the new areas.

Biodiversity, habitats and environment

Existing native, semi-natural habitats are likely to have a high value for biodiversity, and for landscape and visual interest. This will need to be compared with the value of new woodland. The Forestry Commission does not support the conversion of priority habitats, such as deep peat or active raised bogs.

Where the proposed planting is on semi-natural habitat, the presumption is that the planting will be restricted to native broadleaved species or the semi-natural habitat will be retained as open ground within the woodland’s design. 

Find out more about woodland species, habitats protection and the government’s principles for afforestation on or near to Priority Habitats. 

How it works

The funding will help you gather and analyse the information you need to make sure your proposal considers:

  • biodiversity  and geology
  • soils and climate
  • landscape 
  • water 
  • historic environment
  • local stakeholders: please share the letter to request stakeholder input (MS Word Document, 95 KB) with stakeholders. It explains how their response will be used

You’ll have to develop a UK Forestry Standard-compliant plan for woodland creation that shows any constraints and opportunities, and how these are accounted for. Completing the Woodland Creation Planning Grant (WCPG) application and plan will help you do this.

If your land is already under an existing grant agreement, your woodland creation design plan must cover the impact of tree planting on that agreement. 

You’ll receive payments in 2 stages as you complete the WCPG application and plan. The parts of the WCPG application and plan that relate to Stages 1 and 2 will become available for editing when an offer is made. See what information is required for completing Stage 1 and 2 in our example WCPG application and plan documents.  

You may also be eligible for supplementary payments.

Creating a Woodland Creation Design Plan

You will need to complete the WCPG application and plan in 2 stages: 

Stage 1

Do not start work on Stage 1 of the WCPG application and plan until you have a signed agreement from the Forestry Commission. 

See our non-editable example of the WCPG application and plan to understand what is required to complete Stage 1.

Stage 1  requires you to complete a desk-based exercise, identifying constraints and opportunities for your site. You will compile your data in Stage 1 tabs of the WCPG application and plan and give supporting documents, including at least a site context map.

If the Forestry Commission decides there is potential for planting woodland on the proposed site, you will be offered a Stage 2 payment. 

Stage 2

Do not start work on Stage 2 of the WCPG application and plan until  you have a Stage 2 offer from the Forestry Commission. 

See our non-editable example of the WCPG application and plan to understand what is required to complete Stage 2.

You get a Stage 2 payment for producing a Woodland Creation Design Plan by completing the Stage 2 tabs of  the application and plan. View the list of required maps and plans in the Woodland Creation Design Plan example documents. This includes:

  • a site context map
  • a site appraisal plan
  • a design concept plan and final design plan 

If Stage 1 of the WCPG application and plan indicates that there is potential for woodland at the site, you will get an offer of Stage 2 funding, including any supplementary payments where relevant.

The Forestry Commission makes the Stage 2 payment on approval of your completed WCPG application and plan and the documentation that supports it. 

The WCPG application and plan and supporting documents required at Stage 1 and Stage 2 will show a design process, from a survey of the site’s key features to analysis of how they will affect the proposed woodland’s design to synthesis, bringing this information together into an informed design for the woodland.

All elements of the woodland creation design plan you finally submit (including any specials reports and surveys funded through a supplementary payment) should be clearly referred to in your Woodland Creation Design Plan, showing how those elements of survey and analysis were brought together to produce a UK Forestry Standard-compliant plan for your site. 

Forestry Commission approval of your woodland creation design plan does not provide approval to plant. If you wish to plant the woodland, then it will still be subject to the Environmental Impact Assessment (Forestry) (England and Wales) Regulations 1999 (as amended) and consultation. Find out more about EIAs. 

Supplementary payments

If the information you collect during Stage 1 indicates that a more detailed assessment is needed (such as a peat depth survey, or an archaeological survey) then you can apply for a supplementary payment. Where appropriate, the work required under the supplementary payment will need to follow the approach set out in the appropriate standard brief(s).

The current standard brief(s) are:

  • peat depth survey
  • breeding birds
  • vegetation / habitats

These standard brief(s) are available on our Natural environment survey and assessment instructions.

We also have a standard brief for Deer Impact Assessment surveys for woodland creation.

  • Archaeology – analytical survey
  • Archaeology – geophysical survey

To request a copy of a Standard Brief for Archaeology please email WCPG@forestrycommission.gov.uk.

To apply for a supplementary payment complete the  Supplementary payments application form. You should submit this with Stage 1 of the WCPG application and plan. In exceptional circumstances you can apply for supplementary payments before you have been offered Stage 1 funding at the discretion and approval of the Forestry Commission. 

Submit an application form

Complete the application tabs of the WCPG application and plan available on our forms page and return it by email to: WCPG@forestrycommission.gov.uk. The Forestry Commission may contact you to finalise some details before making a decision on your application.

If you can’t apply by email send paper copies to:


Woodland Creation Planning Grant
Forestry Commission  
National Office, England  
620 Bristol Business Park  
Coldharbour Lane  
Bristol, BS16 1EJ  

If you decide to appoint an agent to apply for funding on your behalf then you must complete a Forestry Commission agent authority form to give your consent. 

Further funding

Once you have a completed and approved woodland creation design plan, you can use this to apply for the England Woodland Creation Offer.

Appeals

You can appeal against a Forestry Commission decision. 

Contact the Forestry Commission

Contact the WCPG National team for more information WCPG@forestrycommission.gov.uk or your local Woodland Creation Officer.

Published 9 July 2018
Last updated 25 January 2024 + show all updates
  1. Added links to Example Woodland Creation Planning Grant (WCPG) application and plan .

  2. Updated to reflect uplift to Stage 1 payment to £1,500 and application cap to £30,500. Addition of a new Deer Impact Assessment option under the Supplementary Payment and standardised cost option for ecological surveys.

  3. Added: Woodland Creation Planning Grant - terms and conditions.

  4. Woodland Creation Design Plan Template updated

  5. Information added for new Natural environment survey and assessment instructions

  6. Added the Woodland Creation Planning Grant leaflet.

  7. Updated information on supplementary payments.

  8. The 'Archaeology' standard brief has been added to this page.

  9. Updates to the grant rules and eligibility.

  10. First published.