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Woodland Creation application guidance

The guidance sets out the process for developing woodland creation proposals. The guidance has been primarily revised to include changes to the process relating to stakeholder engagement.

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Stage 5 - grant application

5.1 - preparing the woodland creation grant application

Most woodland creation proposals will need to follow this guidance and have completed stages 1-4 before being eligible to apply for forestry grant funding (see Introduction and getting started sections for more details).

This is designed to simplify and speed up the grant application process.

For proposals that require EIA screening, or that are 10 ha or greater in size, applications for grant funding should be submitted at this stage once Stages 1-4 have been completed.

Scottish Forestry has:

completed consultation on the woodland creation proposal
confirmed compliance with the UKFS
issued an EIA Screening Opinion or Consent (if relevant)

Applications submitted before this point will not be progressed until all the required stages have been completed.

Did you know?

Small scale woodland creation proposals which do not require screening and are less than 10 hectares in size, can be submitted directly as grant applications at Step 2.1. Visit the Scottish Forestry website for more information on grant support.

Available funding and support

Step 5.2 - grant assessment

At this stage, the grant application will be checked to ensure:

it is complete, having supplied all the information and documents required under the grant scheme
it is compliant with the grant eligibility criteria

If there are any issues at this stage, applicants will be asked to amend the application or supply the missing information.

Assessing grant applications for small proposals

When preparing woodland creation grant applications for small proposals which have not undergone stages 1.1 – 2.2, applicants should be mindful that the proposals will be assessed by the local Scottish Forestry Case Officer against:

the legal and good forestry practice requirements of the UKFS
the Forestry (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017
the grant eligibility criteria

Please ensure proposals contain sufficient information to enable these assessments.

If there are any issues at this stage, applicants will be asked to amend the application or supply the missing information.

5.3 - grant decision

The final stage of the grant approval process involves confirming and allocating funding.

This is a competitive process with woodland creation applications being scored to ensure that the available funding is used to support the highest scoring applications.

A grant scheme contract will be offered to successful applicants and on-site works can commence as soon as the contract has been signed by both parties.

Important - commencing work

Work should not commence until the contract has been signed.

A summary of the route for each proposal type is provided below:

Proposal type	Route
Grant-funded: >10 ha or requiring EIA screening	Stages 1.1 → 1.2 → Public Consultation → EIA screening decision→ Grant Application → Grant Assessment
Grant-funded: <10 ha and no EIA screening required	Grant Application → Public Consultation → Grant Assessment
Non-grant funded but requiring EIA screening	Stage 1.1 → (recommended 1.2) → EIA Screening Request → EIA screening decision
Grant-funded or non-grant funded: Large, complex or sensitive proposals	EIA Consent route directed by Scottish Forestry