Countryside Stewardship (CS) Woodland Management Plan (WMP) grants are open for applications all year from 5 January 2023.
image: Open Government Licence v3.0
…must have a WMP approved by the Forestry Commission before you can apply for woodland support…
GOV.UK writes:
Countryside Stewardship (CS) Woodland Management Plan (WMP) grants are open for applications all year from 5 January 2023.
You can also apply for other CS capital grants at any time of the year.
- Agreement duration has increased for new agreements. For applications received from 5 January 2023, Agreement Holders will have 3 years to complete capital works.
- Land in a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or Scheduled Monument is now eligible for capital items if the land is already covered by an existing CS or Environmental Stewardship (ES) agreement.
- We are applying more proportionate reductions where claims are received late. Instead of a 100% reduction for being one day late, the reduction will be scaled according to how late the claim is.
2. About the Woodland Management Plan grant
The CS WMP grant is a capital grant under which you can apply for a one-off payment to create a UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) compliant 10-year WMP.
You must have a binding CS agreement for your WMP (which means you’ve applied, been offered and accepted an agreement) before you can start work on your WMP.
2.1 What Woodland Management Plans are
Your WMP must set out the management intentions for your woodland for at least 10 years. It must also be fully compliant with the UKFS. Read create a woodland management plan to find technical guidance on the production and content of a WMP.
Your plan must be approved by the Forestry Commission before you can apply for CS Higher Tier support to deliver your plan under the Higher Tier element.
2.2 Woodland Management Plan agreements and CS Higher Tier
You must have a WMP approved by the Forestry Commission before you can apply for woodland support under the Higher Tier element of CS. This is the case whether the CS Higher Tier application is for woodland only or woodland in a ‘mixed’ agreement (an agreement that includes woodland and agricultural-environment land).
The WMP must be approved (or approved in principle) on or before the deadline for initial CS Higher Tier applications (28 April 2023). If the WMP is only approved in principle at the time the initial CS Higher Tier application is made, the plan must be fully approved (including felling licence in place) by the deadline for final CS Higher Tier applications.
‘Approved in principle’ means that approval of the plan depends on any accompanying felling licence permission being in place, which can often take longer than approval of the WMP. This is because of the requirement to publish felling proposals on a public register for 28 days.
To make sure there is opportunity for a WMP to be at least approved in principle in time for an initial Higher Tier application, you should submit your draft WMP to the Forestry Commission by 31 December of the year before the Higher Tier application will be made.
2.3 Land in Environmental Stewardship agreements
You can make a WMP grant application on land that is already included in an existing ES agreement, if preparation of a WMP is not a requirement of the ES agreement.
However, you cannot enter land in an existing ES agreement into CS Higher Tier, unless it included HC7 or HC8 on woodland that will end before the Higher Tier agreement starts. Those parcels can be included into CS Higher Tier because those options cannot be included in an ES extension.
2.4 When to apply
You can apply at any time. The grant is available throughout the year subject to sufficient budget. Read section 4 for information on how to apply for a WMP.
If you accept an agreement that we have offered to you, you will then need to produce a draft WMP. The standards and procedures the plan must follow are set out in create a woodland management plan.
If you are writing a WMP with grant funding (PA3) Woodland Management Plan, you need to have your grant agreement in place before you start work on your plan.
2.5 What you’ll get paid
The payment rates and conditions help to make sure that the plans we approve provide value for money. The payment rates and conditions help to make sure that the plans we approve provide value for money.
We calculate the amount to be paid using the total area of eligible woodland on the holding. This can include a maximum of 20% newly planted woodland (this is woodland that is under 10 years old at the time of application). However, the WMP must cover all the woodland on the holding (including all newly planted woodland).
