[Closed] Any woodland owners on here?

My mum owns a small bit of woodland (a few acres)

A guy that works for me does - what's the query and I'll past it on.

Looking at setting up a forestry consultancy business to assist landowners in accessing grants and protecting / improving their asset. Primarily looking at Wales and England.

Funding could be delivered through the Better Woodlands for Wales (BWW) grant scheme and the England Woodland Grant Scheme (WGS) with assistance given to source contract staff, manage timber sales, forest inventories, re-planting, conversion to continuous cover forestry etc etc.

At present just looking for interested woodland owners to get in touch for a free no obligation discussion

email in profile

Cheers
TS

Yes, Mrs and me own a huge 3 acres of wood. Not very big but part of a larger plantation. It hasn't been managed for about 30/40 years so needs quite a bit of work. Long term aim is to get rid of the conifers and re-plant with native trees, but it's a (very) long term project.
From what I've seem about grants ours is too small for FC and to be honest it's not money we need, just more time.

i had a big wood this morning

richmars - Member

Yes, Mrs and me own a huge 3 acres of wood. Not very big but part of a larger plantation. It hasn't been managed for about 30/40 years so needs quite a bit of work. Long term aim is to get rid of the conifers and re-plant with native trees, but it's a (very) long term project.
From what I've seem about grants ours is too small for FC and to be honest it's not money we need, just more time.

Wow! Massive! 😆

Depending where you are then yes grant aid should be available as long as the plantation is not covered by the SFP (Single Farm Payment)and is more than 0.25ha (0.25acres) - the area size is not clear on the FC (England) website. The land will also have to be registered

There is also Environmental Stewardship grants available via Natural England.

The Better Woodlands for Wales scheme operates on the basis that you have to hire in the services of a Management Planner. He/She will guide you through all the operations and the range of grants availble through FC Wales. The advice is free up until your Planner creates the Foundation Plan at which time you either agree to pay for a Management Plan or elect to go your separate ways. If you decide on a Plan the FC will pay towards the cost.

TS

TS,
That's good info. We're in Cambridgeshire if that's important. I like the advise bit. I'm happy doing the work and we don't really have the cash to pay to get work done (even with a grant) but knowing what to do would be good.

ts - you might want to do a bit more research as 0.25 acres isn't 0.25 hectares! 1 acre = 0.4 hectares...

PJT! Slip of the keyboard - we take 0.25ha as around 0.5 acre or thereabouts usually 😆

richmars

like I said email in profile, happy to help

Hi
would establishing a mixed coppice woodland as part of a carbon offsetting scheme qualify for grant funding? About 5 acres planted over a 6 year or so basis to allow rotational coppicing.

why do you need a consultant? why pay somebody to tell you information that is freely available?
if my computer illiterate 60 year old father can get the info he needs, a grant for work, some free labour for clearing, help with detailed mapping and a wrongly applied tree preservation order revoked then it can't be that difficult.

are these grants tied to public access rights/considerations in anyway ?

LoCo - good question. It sounds like it may qualify but you need to be aware of any issues surrounding dual funding. Are you receiving funds or credits for the scheme?

Mr.Smith - you're right you don't [u]need[/u] a consultant. My work will cover everything from grants if people desire to, site specific species selection, standing measurement of timber for evaluation and sales including bringing in processes to maximise timber value to landscape design and assisting owners to gain UK Woodland Assurance certification etc etc - if your old man can do all that then great

gusmac

My understanding of the Welsh system and by default the English one is that you can get funding for work on permissive rights-of-way (ROWs that you have allowed into your land perhaps as part of the overall scheme) Funding is not available to owners who have to fulfil their obligations on actual ROW's. Their appears to be capacity to develop trails and other items but I believe you can not charge for accessing the trails but could charge for entrance to a car park which leads to said trails - if that makes sense?

The problem with the system overall is the SBV's (site based variables) so I'm content to hear of people's experiences and what does / does not work for them.

cheers
TS