Thorpe Trees has many years experience of offering advice, information and assistance to customers considering grants and stewardship schemes. From an initial chat to see which schemes may be suitable for you, to working up full applications and delivering the finished scheme, our team offers an unrivalled level of expertise in this area.

We have long associations with the Forestry Commission, Defra and other funding organisations and are currently assisting clients with The English Woodland Grant Scheme, The Farm Woodland Payments Scheme, The Environmental Stewardship Scheme and numerous Local Authority schemes.

Defra

We have helped customers obtain grants from Defra for many years and provide specific expertise in developing, costing and submitting your application to them. Defra currently offers:

The Countryside Stewardship ‘Woodland Creation Grant’ is available for New Woodland Planting on registered agricultural land up to a value of £6800 / ha. The payments go towards new trees, protective shelters and fencing as required. The minimum area for applications is either 1hectare or 3 hectares depending upon the location of the land and it falling within listed ‘ priority areas’ where the trees will help the reduce flood risk, aid water quality of support overall bio-diversity.

The Countryside Stewardship Scheme, which incorporates the mid-tier and level schemes, is aimed at providing funds to farmers and land managers in England for effective environmental management of their land.

The Mid-tier Scheme offers payment on a  whole range of items aimed at supporting the good stewardship of the land incorporating capital items such as hedge planting and gapping and other management options.

The Higher Level Scheme is designed to achieve a wide range of environmental benefits across the whole farm and provides funding for more targeted land management and a wide range of specific capital items which enhance the conservation value of the land.

Thorpe Trees offers advice to farmers and land managers to select which scheme would be most appropriate for them and to ensure that they are getting the maximum benefits within the relevant criteria.

 

Other sources of grant aid

Various conservation groups and charities may be able to assist with grant aid, and we are happy to assist with any applications to these bodies.

We also recommend that it is always worth contacting your local council for further information and advice.