Enhanced woodland creation grants announced by Forestry Commission England have been welcomed by Confor, which had lobbied for greater inducement to create productive conifer woodland.
Under the English Woodland Grant Scheme the basic rates will rise in the autumn by £1,000/ha to £2,300 for conifer and £2,800 for broadleaved, and there will be an additional contribution of £1,000/ha for creation of productive woodland of more than 10ha.
Confor’s England manager Caroline Harrison said: “We’ve campaigned for this for some time and we are delighted to see some real improvement in basic rates with generous supplements for planting priority objectives.
“We are particularly keen to see applications for the creation of larger blocks of woodland because they are more resilient, offer greater production opportunities and can deliver more public benefits than some smaller woodlands.”
• Confor met Alun Davies, the Wales deputy minister whose brief includes forestry, to press for improvement to the forestry grant scheme, Glastir. Confor believes the situation where forestry policy comes under one minister and the administration of grants with the private sector under another minister causes confusion and delay.
