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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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Step 1.2 - due diligence

Step 1.2 involves:

engagement with Scottish Forestry
stakeholder engagement
data gathering and site assessment

A list of the commonly relevant issues, constraints and opportunities are set out in Appendix X.

For proposals not seeking grant supportincluding compensatory planting, it is strongly recommended that applicants follow the due diligence process (Step 1.2) to ensure:

all sensitivities and relevant issues have been identified
best practice followed

Issues and opportunities arising from due diligence must be recorded in the issues log.

Engaging with Scottish Forestry

A site visit with Scottish Forestry should normally take place at this step in the process to ensure that they are:

familiar with the proposed woodland creation area
better able to advise the applicant and add value to the proposal

Important - engaging with Scottish Forestry

Although experienced forestry professionals may be able to conduct much of this stage without significant interaction with Scottish Forestry, the applicant should engage with Scottish Forestry at the beginning of this stage.

This helps ensure key stakeholders are identified and that potential issues are captured at an early stage in the process.

Engaging with Scottish Forestry at the start of Step 1.2 and, before beginning stakeholder engagement, will help identify and agree:

key issues
survey and assessment requirements
relevant stakeholders
appropriate engagement methods

The applicant should detail the surveys and assessments being undertaken and set out their proposals for stakeholder engagement including:

suggested stakeholders
methods and timing of engagement for discussion with Scottish Forestry

The Case Officer may also be able to provide information on neighbouring or similar sites that the applicant may need totake into account when considering the potential for cumulative effect.

The applicant should capture issues or opportunities raised by Scottish Forestry in the issues log.

Data gathering and site assessment

The need for specific surveys such as ones for habitata, species or the historic environment surveys may be:

clear from the known sensitivities of the site identified by the applicant when preparing their initial proposal (Step 1.1)
highlighted during due diligence (Step 1.2) arising from discussions with Scottish Forestry or stakeholders

Surveys/site assessments should identify and provide an understanding of the sensitivities present on site and, where appropriate, propose measures to avoid and prevent impact.

This should include identifying design changes which should be incorporated in the woodland creation proposal.

It may be worthwhile undertaking some surveys prior to stakeholder engagement to enable applicants to present a more informed proposal.

This may have particular value for sites of high sensitivity, for example, in areas of high landscape sensitivity a draft landscape appraisal might be beneficial for the initial stakeholder engagement.

If the proposal has the potential to have cumulative effects on the environment, then this must form part of the due diligence on the proposal.

Applicants should discuss this with Scottish Forestry at an early stage.

Commissioning surveys

When commissioning surveys, the applicant must consider what information could be deemed sensitive from commercial, individual and species (NatureScot has guidance on relevant species) perspectives.

References to personal information relating to surveyors should be minimised in reports.

Survey reports should be structured to enable any sensitive information to be easily redacted if required, e.g., sensitive data is in a separate chapter or section or stand alone document.

What is cumulative effect?

Cumulative effect in woodland creation means the combined total impact on the environment, landscape, or local community when a new woodland creation project is added to past or current, (and sometimes proposed) land use changes.

Small changes from planting sites can build up over time to create larger shifts.

Cumulative effect is generally assessed against other projects of the same type e.g. afforestation but there are instances where other types of project could also be relevant. For example, the impact of wind farm development on habitats and species in the area.

Engaging with stakeholders

Stakeholder engagement is a key part of due diligence and provides an opportunity to explain the applicant’s plans and objectives and take account of stakeholders’ views.

Principles of stakeholder engagement

The key principles of stakeholder engagement are set out in Scottish Forestry’s Stakeholder Engagement Guidance:

stakeholders with a recognisable interest, or that will be impacted by a proposal should be given the opportunity to input into its development*
they should be provided with appropriate information and resources to be able to understand the engagement process, how their input will be used, as well as the proposal itself
the engagement approach used should be proportionate to the size, extent of operations and potential impact of the proposal
stakeholders should be given a reasonable amount of time to provide relevant views, comments and information
engagement is an ongoing process and land managers should provide feedback to stakeholders in a timely manner to explain how their input has informed the further development of the proposal and the reasons for any decisions made
they should also share with stakeholders the final proposal they intend to submit to Scottish Forestry for assessment.

* A requirement of The UK Forestry Standard (UKFS)

The UK Forestry Standard - The governments' approach to sustainable forestry (5th edition)

Stakeholder engagement is an informative process that helps to identify the key factors that should be considered within the woodland creation proposal. It seeks to avoid any unexpected issues arising during the later public consultation.

It is the applicant’s responsibility to identify relevant stakeholders and engage with them but the proposed approach should be discussed with Scottish Forestry in advance.

Ensure that all neighbours and adjacent landowners who may be affected by the proposal are identified and given an opportunity to provide comments.

Engagement provides the opportunity for stakeholders to:

share knowledge
raise issues
highlight opportunities related to the specifics of the proposal, so that they can be properly considered during the development of the proposal

A range of common issues is Set out in Appendix x of this document.

Views on established forestry-related standards, guidance or national policy are not normally within the parameters for consideration in a specific proposal.

Where these views are shared during the application process, Scottish Forestry may note the points made for future reviews of the relevant standards, guidance or policies.

Scottish Forestry’s focus will remain on considering the individual proposal and compliance with:

the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS)
the EIA regulations
grant eligibility criteria

Stakeholders are strongly encouraged to raise issues or concerns or highlight potential opportunities at due diligence (Step 1.2) that these can be fully considered along with other constraints and issues identified.

Where issues are raised at a later stage, they can often be harder to address. and as a result points raised later may have less influence on the final design proposal.

Agencies have agreed when they will provide advice on forestry proposals, including:

NatureScot
the Scottish Environment Protection Agency
Historic Environment Scotland

If in doubt whether to engage with any of these organisations at this stage, applicants should seek advice from Scottish Forestry.

Once the applicant has finalised their approach to stakeholder engagement, the applicant should keep a Stakeholder Engagement Record (the stakeholders contacted) and this should form part of the proposal when submitted.

When engaging with stakeholders, applicants should make it clear that they will be sharing responses with Scottish Forestry to inform assessment of the proposal.

Scottish Forestry would not normally expect to receive stakeholders’ personal contact details such as email address and phone numbers and these should be omitted from returns.

Timescales for stakeholder engagement

The timescales for stakeholder engagement on forestry proposals are based on guidance from the Scottish Government and the Scottish Land Commission.

Following the key principles sof stakeholder engagement, stakeholders should be given a reasonable amount of time to provide views.

Engagement should be seen as an ongoing process. A minimum of 12 weeks must be allowed for neighbours, local people and communities, and other stakeholders to engage during the early stages of developing forestry proposals.

This period should:

be used for notifying stakeholders, engaging with them, either by correspondence or in person (including meetings or drop in events)
allow sufficient time for comments

This period of time should, for example, give community councils the opportunity to consider the proposal and comment on it.

For larger or complex proposals there may be a need for further engagement when more information becomes available e.g. site surveys or a substantially revised woodland design.

Important - providing feedback to stakeholders

Once the initial period of engagement has been completed the applicant has six weeks to provide feedback to stakeholders on the issues or opportunities raised or comments made.

This is done through a Feedback Summary document. Applicants must tell Scottish Forestry when the initial engagement period will start and finish to demonstrate that they are complying with the key principles of stakeholder engagement.

Applicants should notify Scottish Forestry of the key dates of the engagement (i.e. start and finish of initial engagement period and when feedback is provided to stakeholders at the end of that phase.).

See Scottish Forestry’s Stakeholder Engagement Guidance for more information.

Have your say on forestry plans and proposals

Preparation for Stakeholder engagement

Information for Stakeholders

It is important that the information given to stakeholders regarding the proposal is clear and understandable to non-foresters.

Applicants should explain that they are looking for information and comments on the specifics of the proposal and set out the process and expected time scales for both engagement and the proposal application process.

Different stakeholders may require different approaches or levels of information but in all cases the approach should be proportionate to the size, complexity or sensitivity of the proposal.

At initial engagement, applicants should provide stakeholders with an opportunity to:

comment on what they know about the site or how they use the site
highlight issues which the proposal should consider

As a minimum, at the start of initial stakeholder engagement, the applicant should provide:

concept/opportunity and constraints map or for smaller or simple woodland creation proposals, a basic map showing location and proposal outline (the map should complement the proposal summary and issues log)
(See Key Documents at pX)
proposal Summary
(See Key Documents at pX)
an early issues log detailing key issues and sensitivities and proposed surveys (As outlined in Step 1.1.) - this is not required for proposals less than 5ha

Applicants should give sufficient information to allow stakeholders to consider the issues and be clear what additional surveys are planned.

Where proposals show measures to avoid or prevent negative impacts, applicants should explain why they consider these measures sufficient.

Sharing the proposal summary, concept map and issues log with stakeholders gives them the opportunity to see what is already being considered and what factors have been identified.

Stakeholders can then comment on what is proposed and highlight any additional factors that had not been identified.

Where information such as site surveys or assessments are available at initial engagement then these should be shared with stakeholders.

For large, complex or sensitive proposals, the applicant should consider creating a webpage for their proposal, making documents more accessible and providing increased visibility to stakeholders.

It may also be appropriate to provide access to a full issues log, for example by hosting it on a website (subject to any consideration of sensitive data).

Short summary - engaging with local people and communities

When engaging with local Stakeholders, applicants are encouraged to prepare an assessment of the impact any woodland creation proposals may have on the local community and local interests and identify steps to be taken to address such impacts.

This is part of good forestry practice as articulated under the UKFS.

The assessment will help identify and summarise likely impacts and any proposals to avoid or prevent impact and demonstrate that these aspects have been factored into the proposals.

The assessment should cover such things as: • Neighbours likely to be affected by the proposal:

specific legal interests (e.g. water supplies, servitude rights of access, wayleave agreements, rights of way, etc)
impact on, or opportunities for, existing biodiversity or designated sites
impact on, or opportunities for, local amenity (visual, recreational, access)
impact on, or opportunities for, neighbouring communities such as the potential for increased timber traffic on minor rural roads or improved recreational infrastructure

In many situations this may simply require a short statement, whilst in other locations the scale and likely impact on local communities may be much greater and so further information may be required.

In either situation, it will be important that applicants have fully assessed such impacts and factored appropriate measure into plans, as required by the UKFS and Scottish Forestry good practice guidance.

The above assessment should form part of the Proposal Summary which was initially drafted at Step 1.1.

Issues log

The Issues log will help to create a record of the journey through the proposal process, including considerations and any actions taken The issues log should be anonymised to avoid any personal information being included on it.

The issues log supports your application in capturing key issues stakeholders raise and provides a means to detail specific response to adopting measures to address issues raised.

The log should be updated as new issues arise, for example survey information becomes available and the updated log periodically shared with stakeholders.

This should be proportionate to the scale, complexity or sensitivity of the proposal.

Approaches to stakeholder engagement

The approach to stakeholder engagement will need to take into account of the stakeholders involved e.g. people and local communities, and the size, complexity and sensitivities associated with the woodland creation proposal.

The approach may need to be adjusted if additional stakeholders or significant additional issues are identified during the application process.

Where a meeting or a drop-in event is to be held this should take place early in the process to allow interested parties sufficient time to formally comment on the proposal after the event.

Recording and Reviewing responses

Applicants should record the issues and opportunities raised by stakeholders in the issues log along with the applicant’s assessment of them, and, where necessary, how they will be addressed in the woodland creation proposal.

Applicants should also note the stakeholders that responded in the stakeholder engagement record.

Applicants must consider how to record stakeholders’ personal information to ensure that this is done in accordance with data protection laws.

Feedback to stakeholders

As highlighted above, within 6 weeks of the initial period of stakeholder engagement ending, applicants should provide stakeholders and Scottish Forestry with a summary of the:

engagement undertaken
issues identified
comments received

This should also explain how comments received during the engagement period will be considered when finalising the planting design.

The feedback could be in the form of a summary letter/ map alongside the issues log (or simplified version of it).

In some cases, further engagement with stakeholders on specific issues after the initial 12 week period may be required prior to the final design being submitted.

In many cases, the applicant will not have reached the stage of completing a final design within that six week period. In those circumstances, the applicant must circulate an interim summary report addressing the points above instead.

When surveys or other additional information becomes available, the applicant should update the issues log and recirculate it to stakeholders.

Further comments or information from stakeholders should also be picked up in the log.

As part of the continuing engagement process, stakeholders should be given a reasonable time to respond to additional information received:

the applicant should provide Scottish Forestry with an updated stakeholder engagement record showing which stakeholders have replied, when they have sent the stakeholders their feedback from the initial engagement
Scottish Forestry may ask for copies of individual stakeholder responses
for some proposals, it may be useful for the applicant to provide Scottish Forestry with a map showing the location of neighbours and neighbouring landowners who have been contacted

See Scottish Forestry’s stakeholder engagement guidance for more information.

Have your say on forestry plans and proposals

Important - applying for EIA Consent early in the process

Where, early on the process, the applicant decides to apply for EIA Consent and goes straight to the Scoping stage then the initial stakeholder engagement can take place at that point.

This should be discussed in advance with Scottish Forestry.

Addressing the key issues raised by stakeholders

Make an objective assessment

Applicants should make an objective assessment of the information and comments provided, including the likely implications that each issue could have on the proposal.

It may not always be possible to resolve every issue raised or suggestion made by stakeholders whilst still delivering the applicant’s objectives for the site. Where this is the case, the applicant should discuss with Scottish Forestry, and in the issues log, explain why.

Address each issue

State how each issue will be taken into account within the proposal. This might include changes to the proposal design or operations.

It can also be used as a prompt for follow up action.

Highlight additional surveys

Outline of any additional surveys to be undertaken as a result of the initial stakeholder engagement.

Often, it will be useful for the applicant to discuss the issues raised or suggestions made during the initial engagement (and any follow up actions proposed) with Scottish Forestry.