Timber Resource

Timber is a renewable resource vital to sustainable living and the UK’s economy. From construction and furniture to packaging and shipbuilding, the country has a vibrant and robust industry ready to take advantage of home-grown timber.

However, the UK imports 73% of its timber and due to global demand, supply chains are under pressure. Now is a great time to increase our domestic timber production.

Planting and managing woodlands for timber production can:

  • help secure our home-grown supply of timber

  • capture carbon as trees grow and store it long term in wood products

  • reduce reliance on more carbon-intensive materials

  • improve biodiversity

  • generate income

It is anticipated that a scheme scheme the size of Crow hall will grow over 100,000 tonnes of timber within the first 100 years of the Forest’s life.

UK Forestry Standard

The UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) sets the benchmark for sustainable forestry and sits alongside forestry policies, regulations and legislation. It sets out clear principles for sustainable forest management and timber harvesting that cover aspects such as biodiversity, soil health, water protection, landscape conservation and climate resilience. 

Compliance with the UKFS is a requirement of government grants and permissions for forestry operations (such as woodland creation, felling and replanting proposals).  

Through sustainable practices, forest managers can balance the production of timber with the protection of biodiversity, landscapes and local communities. 

Access

Woodland creation brings access benefits through improved tracks, removal of stock and stock fencing, and variation in scenery. Any new fencing associated with woodland creation tends to allow access with multi-user swing gates rather than styles.

Flood Mitigation

Woodland creation is a form of natural flood management, this is where natural features and characteristics are used to slow down and store more floodwater within upstream catchments. There are several ways trees can reduce flood risk:

  • First, trees generally evaporate more water than other types of vegetation, which can reduce the volume of floodwater draining from the land. More evaporation reduces the amount of storm rainfall reaching the woodland floor, and results in drier soils than can store more of this water below-ground.

  • Second, soils under woodland tend to be better structured than under other land uses, enabling more storm rainfall to enter and pass through the soil rather than quickly run-off the surface. Woodland soils have 11 – 20 times greater permeability than pasture soil increasing the capability for stormwater to pass in to the soils.

  • Third, trees, shrubs and deadwood, particularly along stream sides and within floodplains exert a greater drag on floodwaters when compared with grass – delaying flood flows.

  • Finally, tree cover protects the soil, decreasing soil erosion and the delivery of sediment to watercourses which helps to reduce siltation and thereby increasing the capacity of main river channels to safely convey floodwater downstream

Sustainable Forestry

In the face of climate change, our forests need to remain healthy and resilient to continue to produce timber and deliver valuable benefits to nature and society. Sustainable forestry promotes resilience by improving woodland diversity, its ability to adapt and the overall condition of our woods and forests.  

Managing woodland sustainably for timber production, secures a reliable supply of home-grown wood that helps meet our growing demand for timber and relieves pressure on forests worldwide.

Carbon Capture

With the declaration of a climate emergency it is important we seek to capture carbon wherever we can. Trees remain one of the best ways to soak up and lock away carbon dioxide. A well planned commercial woodland can provide carbon capture on a scale that is not seen in native woodland. Data from the woodland carbon code shows that Sitka spruce is 3-5 times as effective at carbon removals than pure native woodland. On top of this, 2 – 3 cycles of Sitka spruce may be harvested in a single cycle of native woodland, further compounding the carbon removal capability of the woodland.

Trees also sequester carbon in to the soils. Locking carbon in to the soil reduces its ability to contribute to climate change.

Health and Well-being

Scientific studies around the world have shown that forests can improve individual’s physical and mental health, as well as their social well-being.
Woodlands provide an opportunity to exercise in a calm and restful environment. Exercise in woodland has been shown to relieve physical symptoms such as high blood pressure and obesity, as well as mental symptoms of stress and depression.

The Process

In England, most woodland creation projects follow a set process that is overseen and regulated by the Forestry Commission.

This process is split in to two parts:

(1) The Woodland Creation Planning Grant (WCPG)

(2) The England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO)

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The WCPG can help cover the costs of producing a UKFS compliant woodland creation design plan.

You can apply for up to £150 per hectare, plus a 70% contribution to any specialist surveys that are needed, capped at £30,500 per project.

Proposals approved for payment through WCPG are subject to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations.

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Landowners, land managers and public bodies can apply to the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) for support to create new woodland, including through natural colonisation, on areas as small as 1 hectare.

The Woodland Creation Planning Grant

The Woodland Creation Planning Grant (WCPG) provides funding to prepare a woodland creation design plan. Landowners, land managers and public bodies (other than Forestry England) can apply. 

The grant has 2 stages:

£1,500 of grant funding is available to complete Stage 1 of the WCPG application. This is for a desk-based exercise to identify the constraints and opportunities affecting the proposed planting.

If the site has potential for woodland creation, a Stage 2 payment will be offered. Stage 2 payments help cover the costs for preparing:

  • a site appraisal map

  • a design concept plan

  • a draft woodland creation design plan compliant with the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS)

The above points are developed through identifying constraints and opportunities which are held in the Scheme’s Issues Log.
Ecological, Landscape, and Historic Environment surveys may be required to help identify these issues and establish suitable mitigations for the points identified.

As of December 2024 the WCPG process now includes consultation and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) screening.

 This change means: 

  • consultation and EIA screening will take place on the final design for all WCPG applications at Stage 2 

  • WCPG applications will be published on the Consultation Public Register for a period of 21 days

  • a County Archaeologist will be engaged on WCPG final proposals  

  • we will not repeat consultation or EIA screening for a subsequent EWCO application, neither will a standalone EIA screening enquiry for afforestation be required, unless there is a significant change to the proposal, or our EIA decision expires

The England Woodland Creation Offer

The England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) is a flagship grant scheme for farmers and land managers to encourage investment in woodland creation. These woodlands will help to mitigate climate change, deliver nature recovery and provide wider environmental and social benefits. Administered by the Forestry Commission and funded by the government’s Nature for Climate Fund, EWCO supports the creation of a range of woodland types that meet the UK Forestry Standard. It particularly incentivises the creation of new native woodland, especially where this will extend existing native woodland, will be created alongside watercourses that lack shade, or where woodland can provide public access. Applications can be from as little as one hectare, and can include natural colonisation as well as, or instead of, tree planting.

There are 5 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

Once the Scheme has achieved either EIA Consent Not Required, or should it be found that Consent is required, EIA Consent, and application for grant funding through EWCO will be lodged.

Project Delivery

Once a the grant funding contract is secured and signed works can begin. Tree planting is usually undertaken in the winter months after the first frosts have put the trees in to dormancy in the nursery. In the meantime other project works can begin. These will involve the installation of deer fencing, the removal of old and unnecessary stock fencing, the upgrading of existing farm tracks and creation of new forest tracks, and ground preparation (the creation of planting positions for the trees to go in).
Where possible, we aim to use local contractors to deliver the works. Materials are also generally sources locally, with the trees from this site most likely coming from Corbridge.

We anticipate to have the site planting in once season, after which a monitoring and maintenance period of around 5 years will begin to ensure that the aimed stocking density is achieved.