Guidance on HS2 Woodland Fund
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The Forestry Commission has published guidance on finding out
about funding to create native woodland or restore plantations on
ancient woodland sites near to the HS2 route. Contents Find out if
you’re eligible How it works Application deadlines for
2020/21...Request free trial
The Forestry Commission has published guidance on finding out about funding to create native woodland or restore plantations on ancient woodland sites near to the HS2 route. ContentsYou can apply for funding to support native woodland creation or the restoration of Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWS) within a 25-mile zone surrounding the HS2 route - currently in Phase One, from London to the West Midlands. See the HS2WF map (PDF, 239KB, 1 page) The HS2 Woodland Fund (HS2WF) opened on a ‘first come, first served’ basis in February 2018, with an initial budget of £1 million. A further £4 million budget is now available to be allocated to projects until 2022/23. The fund is open year round, but applications are assessed 4 times per year. View the assessment deadlines for 2019 - 2020. The highest scoring applications in each quarter will be provisionally allocated funding and assigned a Forestry Commission Woodland Officer. Expressions of Interest are no longer being accepted. Find out more about why the funding is available in the HS2 Woodland Fund leaflet. (PDF, 4.28MB, 4 pages) Case studyAt Avon Wood, Mr Harding, a landowner from Warwickshire, applied to the HS2 Woodland Fund when the fund originally opened in January 2018. After finding out that his application had been successful, planting started in November 2018. Read about Mr Harding’s experiences of applying to the HS2 Woodland Fund, and creating a new woodland (PDF, 307KB, 2 pages) Watch the video below to hear from Mr. Harding, the forestry agent who supported him, and the Forestry Commission Woodland Officer who progressed the application: Find out if you’re eligibleYour land should be inside the 25-mile zone surrounding the HS2 Phase One route. If your land falls just outside this zone but you make a proposal of outstanding quality, you may be considered for funding at the discretion of the Forestry Commission and the HS2 Woodland Fund Review Panel. You can’t enter into an HS2 Woodland Fund (HS2WF) agreement if the land in your application is under an Environmental Stewardship or Countryside Stewardship agreement. We may accept an application where you can provide written evidence that you have contacted the relevant grant administrator about an amendment or early closure to remove land within the HS2WF proposal from an existing grant agreement, and that you are aware of all potential penalties or reclaims that may be incurred. In these cases, we may make an ‘in principle’ agreement offer once your Woodland Officer has carried out all checks and consultation, and your proposal has been finalised. We do not recommend triggering an amendment or early closure process in relation to the existing agreement until you have received such an offer from us. Your land must be free of existing grant agreements before any final HS2 Woodland Fund agreement offer is made. If you are in any doubt or require further clarification, email hs2woodlandfund@forestrycommission.gov.uk. The Forestry Commission is not responsible for any delays to the issuing of a final agreement due to the amendment or early closure of existing grant agreements, nor for the decisions made by other grant administrators in relation to existing grant agreements. You can’t apply to HS2WF if your proposal is subject to a current or recently withdrawn application for woodland funding through Countryside Stewardship or the Woodland Carbon Fund. If you are applying for support to restore plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS), you must have a Woodland Management Plan approved in principle by the Forestry Commission, and no grant offer will be made until a Woodland Management Plan and all associated Felling Licences have been formally approved by the Forestry Commission. Thresholds criteriaYou must meet the following criteria to create new woodland and/or restore PAWS through the HS2 Woodland Fund.
See the full UKFS publication. How it worksYou’ll receive a total payment based on the range of funded capital items that you put into your application, up to a specified cap. For native woodland creation, the total capital payment is capped at £8,500 per (gross) hectare of planting - this does not apply to any woodland creation maintenance payments. For PAWS restoration, the total amount for tree planting costs is capped at £4,000 per (net) hectare of restocking, but the cap does not apply to capital items (such as fencing) over and above tree planting. For both application types, the relevant cap does not include leaky woody dams - these can be included over and above the cap. You’ll also get a 10-year maintenance payment for woodland creation at £200 per hectare per annum. This is paid in 2 instalments at years 5 and 10 of the agreement period. If you’re applying on behalf of the state or local authorities you can’t apply for maintenance payments. You can watch the HS2 Woodland Fund customer webinar below: You must have a signed agreement in place before you start work. Read the HS2 Woodland Fund: terms and conditions (PDF, 199KB, 12 pages). Application deadlines for 2020/21Applications to the HS2 Woodland Fund are accepted all year round, but are assessed 4 times a year. You will have one or 2 planting seasons available to choose, depending on when your application is submitted. The table below shows the application deadlines for 2020/21 and the planting seasons associated with them.
The HS2 Woodland Fund Review Panel will meet to review applications and provisionally allocate funding around 3 weeks following each application deadline. We aim to let you know whether or not a Woodland Officer will be assigned to your proposal within one month of the application deadline. Payment rates per capital itemYou can cover 100% costs of a range of capital items in your application, based on the standard costs below. This table summarises payment rates and links to detailed specifications about capital items:
Any squirrel traps funded under the HS2 Woodland Fund must be legally compliant. The rules on mammal traps are changing and you will have to keep checking that you are legally compliant. Speak with your Woodland Officer if you’re unsure. Ground prep for natural regeneration is only available in PAWS restoration applications, and only where there is no surviving ancient woodland flora, natural regeneration, or native understory present. See the invasive species lists. (PDF, 180KB, 2 pages) Basic Payment SchemeYou can continue to get Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments if you’ve met eligibility requirements for HS2WF funding. You must have claimed BPS payments for your land since 2008 and completely exclude livestock from your newly created woodland. If you aren’t on the BPS scheme grazing permission will be at the Forestry Commission’s discretion and is not guaranteed. Trees must be protected from grazing during the agreement and obligation period. To continue receiving BPS payments, you must notify the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) of your newly planted woodland - complete an RLE1 form to update the land cover with RPA. Read our guidance on woodland grant schemes and BPS: operations note 42 for more information. How to applySubmit an applicationComplete and send the 2020 application form, application annex and at least one map to: hs2woodlandfund@forestrycommission.gov.uk. Only applications submitted using the 2020 form and annex will be accepted. A woodland condition survey must be completed for all PAWS applications. This can either be submitted with your application, or completed with your Woodland Officer during a site visit. This straightforward assessment, which involves a walking survey through your wood, will give an overview of the condition of your wood’s habitats and will identify any issues you may need to address as part of your HS2WF application. The assessment will need to cover the whole woodland, not just the areas to be felled and restored. MapsYou must submit at least one map showing the boundary of your project and the location of all capital items included in your application annex. The kind of map you need to submit depends on whether you are applying for support for woodland creation, PAWS restoration, or both. Below, you can see which map(s) you need to submit and links to examples of what these should look like. Creation
PAWS
All maps should show a 6 figure OS grid reference, North arrow, scale, and key, and all compartment numbers in your application annex should be marked on the maps. You should number your maps and ensure that the name of your woodland is written on it clearly. Give consent if you appoint an agentIf you decide to appoint an agent to apply for funding on your behalf you must complete a Forestry Commission agent authority form to give your consent. (This is not the same form that you would complete to appoint an agent to apply for Countryside Stewardship: woodland support.) Contact the Forestry Commission (England)For more information contact the scheme administrator at hs2woodlandfund@forestrycommission.gov.uk Find out how to make a complaint or appeal. |