England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO)

England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) supports the establishment of new woodlands and is administered by the Forestry Commission. It is funded through the Nature for Climate Fund to support projects that will help us achieve Net Zero by 2050, as well as helping nature recovery and delivering other objectives in the 25 Year Environment Plan. Landowners, land managers and public bodies can apply to 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. The closing date beyond April 2025 will be confirmed soon.

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Contents

Summary

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs - Forestry Commission - Nature for Climate Fund 

The England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) is a financial incentive scheme for the planting and maintenance of new and extended areas of woodland across England. Our goal is to provide public benefits, contribute to our 2050 Net Zero target and to create new robust habitat for native flora and fauna in the face of contemporary environmental challenges and threats to biodiversity.Once an agreement is reached following the application process, you will be paid for completed tree planting, installation of additional features and infrastructure and yearly maintenance over the following decade.There are 4 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

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

You can check the location of your proposed new woodland in relation to where woodland creation can deliver the benefits that justify additional contributions on the Forestry Commission map browser and Land Information Search.

Low sensitivity land payment

A payment to encourage EWCO applications on low sensitivity land, avoiding land most suitable for food production. When planting on low sensitivity land you can now receive an additional £1,100 per hectare.

Implementing the Biosecure Procurement Requirement pilot

The pilot of our Biosecure Procurement Requirement means that applicants eligible for funding under EWCO (and other funds in the pilot), need to source their trees from suppliers who are either certified under the Plant Healthy Certification Scheme (or have applied to become certified) or who have passed a Ready to Plant assessment provided by Fera Science Ltd. This requirement helps to combat the threats posed by pests and diseases, as well as strengthening our biosecurity and serving our long-term vision for our trees and woodlands. Find information and support on how to comply in our guide: Biosecure Procurement Requirement Pilot for Plants and Trees.

Contact your Woodland Creation Officer

If you're considering applying to EWCO, you should contact your local woodland creation team as early as possible. They can provide guidance and answer any initial questions about woodland creation. They can also provide further assistance if you choose to apply for a Woodland Creation Planning Grant (WCPG) to develop plans for your new woodland.

Contact your local woodland creation team.

Extra income from selling carbon

The EWCO application form gathers the information you need to register with the Woodland Carbon Code (WCC) if you want to access private funding for Woodland Carbon Units and apply to the Woodland Carbon Guarantee (WCaG).

The WCC is the quality assurance standard for woodland creation projects in the UK and generates independently verified Woodland Carbon Units. Projects must be registered with the WCC before they are planted. The WCaG offers successful auction bidders the opportunity to access guaranteed government payments for Woodland Carbon Units captured by your project at an agreed price.

England Woodland Creation Offer transition into Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs)

We will take a phased approach to the transition of EWCO and Woodland Creation Planning Grant (WCPG) into the Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs), to ensure there’s no gap in offering grants to applicants for woodland creation.

Future Countryside Stewardship (CS) woodland creation offers will largely mirror the EWCO offer to ensure fairness for current scheme participants and secure the benefits of this ground-breaking scheme.

Eligibility

EWCO is open to owner occupiers, tenants, landlords and licensors who have full management control of the land in the application. If you don’t have full management control you will need consent from those who do. Joint applications, multiple land managers and applications on common land and areas of shared grazing are eligible.

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 as long as certain conditions are met)

EWCO is a criteria-based competitive scheme. We offer agreements to applicants whose woodland creation proposals meet or exceed a threshold score. The threshold score is currently 10 points. For full eligibility criteria, read the EWCO grant manual.

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. Check this before submitting your application.

Objectives

The main priorities for EWCO are:

  • combating climate change by creating new woodlands that store carbon

  • contributing to nature recovery by creating new woodland habitat

  • improving water quality

  • reducing flood risk

  • providing climate change mitigation by cooling watercourses

  • creating woodlands that are close to people

  • increasing and improving recreational access in new woodland

  • encouraging ammonia capture to protect sensitive sites

EWCO is one of a suite of Forestry Commission initiatives to support woodland creation and tree planting across England. It gives greater recognition of the public benefits and ecosystem services provided by woodland (and the true costs of creating woodland) by providing additional incentives that encourage the provision of those benefits, in addition to supporting landowners with the capital costs of woodland creation.

Dates

The Forestry Commission aims to acknowledge your application and let you know if there is information missing from it within 3 working days. It may take longer during peak periods.

Funding decisions can take 12 to 20 weeks from receiving a valid application. This period includes a 21 day period where new planting proposals must be published on our public register of woodland creation and tree felling.

Timescales are likely to be shorter where applicants have already completed an approved Woodland Creation Design Plan through the Woodland Creation Planning Grant.

EWCO will support woodland creation until financial year 2024 to 2025. EWCO also includes 15 years of annual maintenance payments to help establish the young trees once the capital works are complete.

You must maintain the young woodland for a total of 15 years after the last capital works are complete.

How to apply

What information do I need to apply?

Land registration

You must be registered on Rural Payments and have a Single Business Identifier (SBI) before you can apply to EWCO. You do not need to be a business to register. If you want to direct your EWCO payments to an authorised agent, they must also be registered on Rural Payments. You must have registered your land on Rural Payments before we can offer you an agreement. You should register your land before making an application.

Application forms

Make an application using the guidance on our forms page. Always check this page to make sure you are working to the latest guidance and application forms.

Map

You need to submit a map showing the location of the proposed woodland and the capital items that will be undertaken. You can use your own map as long as it meets the standards in the grant manual, or you can use a base map requested through the Forestry Commission’s Map Request Service. If you use this service, we will supply a blank base map for you to mark up by hand to show your proposal. See our EWCO example map to help you prepare a map that meets our minimum mapping standards.

Where to send your completed forms

Email your completed forms to: EWCO@forestrycommission.gov.uk

Hard copies should be sent to:

England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO), Forestry Commission National Office, 620 Bristol Business Park, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS16 1EJ