The three-year Tree Health pilot will be delivered by
the Forestry Commission and will cover parts of the
North West, West Midlands, London and the South East
of England. The pilot aims to establish 100
agreements with interested land owners and managers
to help deal with trees affected by a pest or disease
outbreak.
The Forestry Commission will support the felling and
restocking of trees as well as providing maintenance
payments for restock sites. Learnings from the pilot
will inform the future Tree Health scheme, being
rolled out in 2024. The pilot will work alongside the
existing Countryside Stewardship Woodland Tree Health
grants, which will continue to be on offer until 2024
when the new Tree Health scheme will be adopted.
As the pilot will trial new elements of the future
scheme only, payments made as part of the Tree Health
pilot will differ to payments made as part of the
existing Countryside Stewardship Tree Health grants.
Among the incentives being tested through the pilot,
support will be available for diseased and infested
trees outside of woodland, for roadside ash with ash
dieback, and for trees affected by the spruce bark
beetle (Ips typographus) and sweet chestnut blight
(Cryphonectria parasitica).
The UK’s Chief Plant Health Officer, Prof Nicola
Spence, said:
Plants and trees deliver £10.5 billion per year in
social, environmental and economic benefits, from
providing a safe environment for wildlife and
sequestering carbon from the atmosphere, to
enabling a sustainable timber industry.
I encourage eligible stakeholders to help us
protect these vital national assets by submitting
their expressions of interest to the Tree Health
pilot.
Forestry Commission Chair, Sir William Worsley, said:
For the Tree Health pilot we envisage a genuine
partnership with land owners and managers whose
trees are affected by certain pests and pathogens –
one that will strengthen the health of our iconic
natural environment.
A healthy treescape is crucial to ensure that we
leave our environment in a better state for future
generations. I am calling for eligible tree owners
and managers across England to submit their
expressions of interest to the pilot. Together we
will carefully test and refine new elements of the
future Tree Health scheme, to the benefit of our
precious trees and woodlands - and the wildlife
which relies upon them.
The pilot delivers on the Government’s commitment,
set out in the Agricultural Transition Plan, to
reduce the impact of tree pests and diseases. It will
work with landmark plans for a renewed agricultural
sector which will transform the way farmers and land
managers are supported to encourage sustainable
farming practices alongside profitable food
production.
The Tree Health pilot supports the commitment to the
25 Year Environment Plan, the Tree Health Resilience
Strategy and the UK’s carbon net zero goals.
