Check your eligibility
In order to progress an application to partner with Forestry England in tree planting, the following criteria must be met:
You must have a minimum of 20 hectares of land to dedicate to a new woodland creation
You must be in a position to commit to leasing your land for 60-120 years
If you meet the eligibility criteria, please proceed to the application form.
What happens next?
After receiving your application, we'll carry out an initial assessment for site suitability, to make sure we do not waste your time.
We’ll let you know if we think your site is suitable for progressing in partnership with Forestry England. If it's not, we may point you towards a different route to create woodland.
If we think your site is suitable for a partnership with Forestry England, we’ll arrange an online meeting in which our expert forest advisors will ask you to tell us about your ambitions for the project, discuss the issues which are likely to influence the final design of the woodland, and to explain what comes next if you're happy to continue working with us.
After the initial assessment, if we agree your site looks very suitable for our woodland creation partnership and our long-term objectives are compatible, we’ll enter into an option agreement, which will allow us to start the ball rolling on surveying and securing permission to plant trees. At the same time as we’re starting the planning and design of the project, you’ll be working with our land agents to agree the rental payments and other lease terms. Forestry England will take the site through the planning and approvals process, including surveys and environmental impact assessment screening, in consultation with, and at no extra cost to, you.
On successful completion of the planning process, we will complete the lease of the site and start planting trees.
Working as partners
Once we have agreed to work in partnership and signed an option Forestry England will start the detailed project work. This will involve a range of stake holders and we’ll keep you fully involved as things progress. Forestry England will be responsible for:
Planning activities including site appraisal, planting design maps, species selection, soil surveys, geographical information analysis, ecological reports and general landscape character assessment.
Consultation with appropriate local bodies and the general public regarding the proposed land use change (this is a requirement of any woodland creation project).
The Environmental Impact Assessment screening of the site.
Preparation of woodland management plan, that meets our agreed woodland objectives.
Sourcing seedlings from our biosecure nurseries together with tree guards, fencing, or any other materials necessary for protection.
Ground preparation and planting.
Active woodland management for the duration of the lease period during our partnership. This includes, but is not limited to; coppicing, thinning, mammal population control, timber harvesting and restocking, disease monitoring, carbon unit's registration and sale and recreation management.