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 Creation Offer (EWCO)

ENGLAND WOODLAND CREATION OFFER

Landowners, land managers and public bodies can apply to the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) for support to create new woodland, including through natural colonisation, on areas as small as 1 hectare.

You could receive up to £10,200 per hectare, plus up to an additional £12,700 in stackable payments when delivering wider benefits to society, nature recovery and the environment, to support your woodland creation scheme.

EWCO is one of a suite of Forestry Commission initiatives to support woodland creation and tree planting across England. 

 Land is eligible if it is:

  • in England
  • within the full management control of the applicant (or, where applicable, any counter-signatories)
  • not already classified as woodland
  • not subject to any existing legal requirement or obligation to create woodland
  • not subject to a dispute between landlords and tenants
  • not within an existing grant agreement that has more than 5 months left to run at the time the EWCO application is submitted (if the land or part of it is in either an Environmental Stewardship or Countryside Stewardship agreement it may be possible to transfer the land into EWCO if certain conditions are met)

EWCO is a criteria-based competitive scheme.

Woodland Creation Fast Track

If your proposal is within a low sensitivity area for woodland creation your application may be eligible for the Woodland Creation Fast Track

  How it works

There are 5 types of payment available under EWCO:

  • support for the capital items and activities to establish new woodland, with payments covering 100% of standard costs (the national average)
  • 15 years of annual maintenance payments to help establish the young trees once the capital works are complete
  • a contribution towards the actual cost of installing infrastructure to either enable the current and future management of the woodland, or to provide recreational access
  • optional additional contributions where the location of the woodland and its design will deliver public benefits. You can apply for multiple additional contributions on the same land where the woodland is in the right location and the design will provide multiple public benefits
  • an optional low sensitivity land payment where the proposal falls within a low sensitivity area for woodland creation. This means applicants avoiding land most suitable for food production can receive an additional £1100 per hectare.

 Additional contributions

Additional contributions are optional and will be available where the woodland’s location and design will deliver public benefits. These are one-off payments that can be claimed once all the capital works are completed. Where appropriate, additional contributions can be combined so you can apply for multiple on the same land.

Additional contributions include:

  • nature recovery: up to £3,300 per hectare for woodlands that restore nature and species
  • flood risk management: £1,000 per hectare for woodlands that help reduce the risk of flooding
  • water quality: £500 per hectare for woodlands that will improve water quality
  • riparian buffers: £2,500 per hectare for woodlands along riverbanks that improve water habitat
  • close to settlements: up to £600 per hectare for creating woodlands close to where people live
  • recreational access: up to £3,700 per hectare for providing access to woodlands for the public to enjoy