Confor has strongly welcomed the announcement that an additional £19m will be provided in England to support productive planting.
“Confor has lobbied hard for greater productive tree planting, and this additional funding will help to provide the resource that the forestry sector needs for the future”, said chief executive Stuart Goodall.
£19.2 million has been made available by the UK Government to support the creation of new woodlands over 30 hectares, which will help meet future carbon targets. Confor wrote to the minister on 18 October asking for additional funding following the Paris Agreement of December 2015, noting that tree planting is a cost-effective way to reduce carbon in the atmosphere and that there was still a strong need to plant more productive woodland.
“This fund will target the planting of forests over 30ha, the scale needed to make a new forest viable for producing future supplies of wood, as well as delivering the wide range of environmental benefits that modern forests provide”, Stuart Goodall explained.
Announcing the new fund, Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey said: “This new fund will encourage large scale planting, helping us reduce our carbon footprint, while creating new forests to enjoy for generations to come.”
Richard Greenhous, Director of Forestry Services at Forestry Commission England, added: “The Woodland Carbon Fund is designed as a simple, demand led grant scheme to demonstrate how woodland creation can help meet Government’s future carbon targets and deliver the wide range of other benefits that woodlands bring.
Maximum grants available will range between £6,800 and £8,500 per hectare depending on its location, with the higher rate available where there is an access need and permissive access is granted.
Full details of how to apply and the criteria necessary will be available on the Forestry Commission website www.forestry.gov.uk/england-wcf which will be open from 13.30 hrs on 10 November.
