by Rankinswood » Sat Oct 17, 2015 8:31 am
Hi Tom,
Yes you can help !
Natural England and The Forestry Commission (England) have just closed the old woodland grant system where owners could obtain a financial grant to prepare woodland management plans and undertake certain tree planting, woodland access works, etc. This has now been replaced by the Countryside Stewardship scheme where woodlands of less than 3 hectares (7.4 acres) will no longer qualify for any financial support. Even slightly larger woodlands might not now qualify for financial support because the new system is a points based competitive system that depends on the size and content of the woodland. So, deciduous woodlands will qualify for the most points with mixed coniferous / decidous woodlands less and pure conifer woodlands hardly any points. The larger the woodland area the more points will be obtained to compete for a slice of the available funding.
This all means if you are a large land owner with 4000 hectares of deciduous woodland then you could qualify for a stewardship award of up to up to £1.2 million per annum whilst a small contiguous woodland owning neighbour will get nothing. This just can't be right !
This policy is an administrative nightmare, very short sighted and very much at odds with English Nature wider objectives to look after the countryside as a whole failing to recognise the importance of many small woodlands in that for example they might provide wildlife corridors joining up larger woods thereby helping wildlife migration between same together with providing windbreaks that help protect crops and reduce soil erosion.
I am more than a little annoyed with The Forestry Commission who have failed to look after all of their woodland owning clientele in a fair and balanced manner.
Rankinswood
