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Woodland Creation application guidance

This revised guidance, first published in July 2026, outlines principles and process you should follow when considering woodland creation.

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Step 1.2: due diligence

There are different aspects to completing due diligence as shown in the ‘Woodland creation Application Process’ diagram.

Depending on the level of information gathered and presented as well as the sensitivity of the site, the order for completing the steps and the level of detail required can vary.

If applicants have not already done so they should create an issues log to record information as it is gathered. The proposal details should include any additional infrastructure such as new forest roads , quarries or ATV tracks required to establish the proposal as well as considering impacts from these aspects.

Experienced forestry professionals may be able to conduct much of this stage without significant interaction with Scottish Forestry. However, we should be engaged at the beginning of this stage to help ensure key stakeholders are identified and that potential issues are captured at an early stage in the process.

This can prevent costly amendments to woodland creation proposals at a later point in the process. A site visit by a Scottish Forestry Woodland Officer would normally happen at this stage of the process, to ensure that they are familiar with the proposed woodland creation area, and therefore better able to advise the applicant and add value to the proposal.

Important

If grant application is planned for a proposal that require an EIA screening, or 10+ ha then the following has occurred before submitting the grant application:

the due diligence process ( stage 1.2)
a public consultation must have been undertaken by Scottish Forestry (stage 3)
our assessment of the proposal must have been completed (stage 4)

If grant application is planned for a proposal not requiring EIA Screening and less than 10 hectares then proportionate due diligence is still required but this can be provided with the grant application.

The public consultation undertaken by Scottish Forestry (stage 3); and Scottish Forestry’s assessment of the proposal (stage 4) will be occur after the grant application has been submitted.

Complex small proposals may still require significant due diligence and would likely benefit from completing due diligence prior to a grant application.

We can advise on due diligence requirements during initial proposal preparation (step 1.1).

For proposals not seeking grant support, such as compensatory planting proposals, it is strongly recommended that applicants follow this due diligence process to ensure all sensitivities and relevant issues have been identified.

Engage Scottish Forestry

Agree key issues, surveys,/ assessments, stakeholders and engagement method with the woodland officer.

It is advisable to discuss the initial proposal stage with the local Scottish Forestry woodland officer. A joint site visit is likely to be helpful at this stage. Engagement with us at this time can shape the direction of proposals and help identify key issues that may require further analysis.

We will also be able to advise on how best to conduct stakeholder engagement and how to undertake this engagement.

The woodland officer may also be able to provide information on neighbouring or similar sites that may need to be taken into account when working up the proposal.

Before undertaking stakeholder engagement, applicants should agree with the woodland officer the:

key issues
level of detail
stakeholders such as consultees, neighbours and local communities

It is recommended that details of which stakeholders were contacted and when are recorded in Scottish Forestry’s Stakeholder Engagement Record.

We should be notified of the key dates of the engagement (i.e. start and finish of engagement period and when notification of the results of the engagement are issued).

We should also be included in correspondence relating to these key dates.

For more information please refer to Scottish Forestry’s Stakeholder and Community Engagement and Feedback Guidance.

Have your say on forestry plans and proposals

Information from Scottish Forestry should be used to update the applicant’s issues logs a required.

If in any doubt about what will be required in a woodland creation proposal, applicants should contact their local woodland officer.

Contact your local Scottish Forestry office

Data Gathering and Site Assessment

The need for specific surveys such as habitat, species or historic environment surveys may be clear from the known sensitivities of the site or may be highlighted during the stakeholder engagement process.

We will not normally expect applicants to carry out surveys simply to look for features of interest.

Additional surveys should be agreed with the woodland officer before they are undertaken.

Surveys/site assessments should identify and provide an understanding of sensitivities that are present and also propose appropriate measure to avoid and prevent impact in line with best practice.

This should include identifying design changes which should be incorporated in the woodland creation proposal. It may be worth considering undertaking some surveys prior to stakeholder engagement as this will enable applicants to present a more informed proposal to stakeholders.

Evidence suggests that areas with a high sensitivity may benefit by providing additional information for stakeholder engagement in order to assist in the preparation of the proposal. For example, in areas of high landscape sensitivity it is advisable to provide a draft landscape appraisal. When commissioning surveys, consider what information could be considered 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. It is strongly recommended that survey reports are structured to enable any sensitive information to be easily redacted if required, e.g., sensitive data is in a separate chapter or section.

Evidence suggests that areas with a high sensitivity may benefit by providing additional information for stakeholder engagement in order to assist in the preparation of the proposal.

For example, in areas of high landscape sensitivity it is advisable to provide a draft landscape appraisal.

When commissioning surveys, consider what information could be considered 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.

It is strongly recommended that survey reports are structured to enable any sensitive information to be easily redacted if required, e.g., sensitive data is in a separate chapter or section.

UKFS compliance, eligibility for Grant Funding and the Woodland Carbon Code

When designing woodland creation proposals, applicants should consider the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) at all stages.

The UK Forestry Standard (5th edition)

This ensures that proposals meet the minimum standards for grant funding and provides guidance on mitigating potential issues.

Where funding is being sought, applicants must also ensure proposals meet the relevant grant scheme and Woodland Carbon Code eligibility criteria.

Woodland Carbon Code

The use of an Operational Plan to support woodland creation proposals helps to evidence compliance with the UKFS and demonstrate eligibility for grant funding.

Engage with stakeholders

Introduction

Stakeholder engagement provides an opportunity to explain the landowner’s objectives and plans to other relevant parties and for applicants to take account of their views.

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 which may cause changes to the proposed woodland creation.

It is the applicant’s responsibility to carry out the stakeholder engagement and feedback exercise however the proposed approach should be agreed with us before proceeding.

This stage provides the opportunity for stakeholders to share knowledge and raise issues related to the specifics of the proposal, so that they can be properly considered before the proposal is finalised.

These issues can include but are not limited to:

habitat and species
private water supplies
archaeological features
impacts on / opportunities for tenants and/or local businesses
proximity to dwellings and neighbouring properties
deer management - Footpaths and access
timber haulage
concerns about anti-social behaviour

Views on forestry-related standards, guidance or national policy, rather than its application in relation to the proposal, are not normally considered to be material for the assessment and approval of the individual proposal.

Where these views are shared during the process Scottish Forestry may note and record them for use during future reviews of the relevant standards, guidance or policies.

Generally, however the focus of Scottish Forestry will remain on considering the individual proposal and the compliance with relevant criteria under the EIA regulations, UKFS and grant eligibility criteria.

Stakeholders are expected to raise site specific issues at this stage so that the proposal can fully consider them along with other constraints and issues identified during due diligence.

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

Applicants should ensure that stakeholders are given sufficient time to respond to engagement requests.

This is expected to be a minimum of 12 weeks from the time that initial contact is made with stakeholders.

Sharing the issues log and concept map (if produced) with stakeholders gives them the opportunity to see what is already being considered and what factors have been identified.

Stakeholders can then add detail to the applicant’s knowledge or add any new factors that have not been identified.

Agencies such as NatureScot, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Historic Environment Scotland have agreed when they will provide advice on forestry proposals.

Soil and water management

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

ensure that all neighbours and adjacent landowners who may be affected by the proposal are identified and given an opportunity to provide comments
when engaging with stakeholders, applicants should make it clear that they will be sharing responses with Scottish Forestry to inform assessment of the proposal
we would not normally expect to receive stakeholders’ personal contact details such as email address and phone numbers and these should be omitted from returns
the Stakeholder Engagement Record should be used to capture relevant dates when engaging with a stakeholder
the issues log should be used alongside any stakeholder engagement activity and record

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

Preparation for Stakeholder engagement

Information to inform Stakeholders It is critical that the information given to stakeholders regarding the proposal is clear and understandable for 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 will likely require different approaches or levels of information.

Early stage engagement

For early stage engagement, applicants may wish to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to feedback:

what they know about the site
how they use the site
and highlight issues which the proposal should to consider

This approach can be useful with local communities and stakeholders such as community councils.

With this approach, applicants should provide a short summary or/ map of key proposals such as:

management objectives
potential timber transport access and public access
known sensitivities
proposed surveys

Alternatively, applicants may wish to provide stakeholders with more details such as surveys already undertaken, a copy of the issues log and concept map.

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

Where proposals show mitigation, applicants should explain why they consider that mitigation is sufficient.

When preparing materials for engagement, applicants must ensure that they do not publicly release any sensitive data such as:

species location data
surveyors’ names and contact details
other personal data of, or provided by, stakeholders

Short summary

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 clarify and summarise likely impacts and mitigation proposals and demonstrate that these aspects have been factored into the proposals.

The assessment should cover such things as:

neighbours likely to be affected by proposed forestry operations
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 leisure facilities

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.

Issues log

As outlined in Step 1.1.

Concept map and/or Opportunity and Constraints map

To help facilitate stakeholder engagement, particularly on larger or sensitive proposals, a concept map should be provided.

This map should show the main factors that will impact on the design of the woodland.

Highlight the issues that may impact upon what is or is not possible on the site.

These can be constraints (factors which reduce the freedom of action) and opportunities (factors which allow greater flexibility).

The map should complement the summary and / or issues log and show all the issues that have been identified.

This should include relevant aspects of the proposal such as:

physical conditions (e.g. deep peat, water)
biodiversity
historic environment
landscape
timber transport access
public access

For smaller or simple woodland creation proposals, a basic map showing location and proposals outline alongside the issues log may be sufficient to help facilitate discussions with stakeholders.

A broad indication of activities, such as ground preparation technique, could be included at this stage.

An overview of woodland type (not necessarily individual species) and open ground could be useful, however, too much detail may lead to the presumption that decisions have already been made.

The detail on the concept map must be clear with well identified symbols and legends. Appendix 1 provides guidance on maps for a woodland creation proposal.

Approach(s) to stakeholder engagement

The approach to stakeholder engagement will need to take into account how significant the impact of the proposal is likely to be.

This will be influenced by the size, extent of operations and sensitivities associated with the woodland creation proposal.

Applicants should agree their stakeholder engagement approach with Scottish Forestry to help ensure all relevant stakeholders are included and the proposed timescale and approach are reasonable.

In the most sensitive proposals, we will require applicants to work with the community to set out agreed expectations on what, how and when the community will be engaged.

The approach may need to be amended once engagement has started if additional stakeholders or significant additional issues are identified.

Where a meeting is to be held this should take place early in the process to allow interested parties adequate time to respond.

For proposals requiring EIA consent this meeting could be part of the screening/scoping process

Information provided to stakeholders should be proportionate to the likely significance of the impact of the proposal and allow sufficient time for them to consider and respond to your proposal.

Site specific knowledge, surveys or data, should be appropriately shared with stakeholders (subject to any consideration of sensitive data).

Alongside the other documents detailed above, this will enable the proposal to be properly considered by these parties.

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.

At least 12 weeks should be allowed for communities, neighbours 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, and allow an appropriate time for comments.

The period should take account of the timing of Community Council meetings which may occur less than once per month.

Applicants must inform us when the engagement period will start and finish.

This will enable Scottish Forestry to demonstrate that this commitment has been complied with and allow Scottish Forestry to maintain a record of forestry proposals under development.

Recording and Reviewing responses

Applicants should record:

the issues raised by stakeholders on the issues log along with their assessment of the issue
where necessary, how issues will be addressed within the woodland creation proposal

In addition, applicants should also retain the details of the stakeholders that were contacted and responded on the stakeholder engagement record.

Any processing of personal information must be done in accordance with data protection laws such including the Data Protection Act 2018 and the assimilated law version of the General Data Protection Regulation as it forms part of the law of Scotland.

Data Protection Act 2018 (legislation.gov.uk)

Applicants must consider how to record personal information in relation to these data protection duties.

For example, using anonymised details in the issues log then linking these to personal details in the stakeholder engagement record would enable Scottish Forestry to link comments or issues to a specific stakeholder, without personal information being detailed in the issues log.

Feedback to stakeholders

Within 6 weeks of the stakeholder engagement period finishing, applicants should provide a summary of the engagement undertaken and the issues highlighted and feedback received to stakeholders and Scottish Forestry.

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

This could be in the form of a summary letter/ map or a simplified issue log.

For complex or sensitive proposals, it may also be appropriate to provide access to a full issues log for example by hosting it on a website.

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.

If you are unable to finalise the design within 6 weeks of the initial stakeholder engagement phase finishing, you must still circulate a summary report as the proposal is at the 6 weeks.

In cases where further surveys or assessments are needed, after the surveys or assessments have been carried out and prior to the submission design being sent to Scottish Forestry, applicants should update stakeholders again, to explain how stakeholder comments have been considered in the final design.

If stakeholders request specific survey information that isn’t available during the 12 week period, once the survey information is provided, any subsequent stakeholder feedback on the new information should be provided within an agreed additional period.

However it is expected that this period will normally be 4 weeks as any response would be focused on a specific issue.

If appropriate depending on the issue under consideration, that 4 week period could be extended.

This is only expected to be needed where specialised input is required from a stakeholder.

The applicant must ensure that stakeholders are informed when due diligence is considered completed and that the proposal will be submitted to Scottish Forestry review.

Please see Stakeholder and Community Engagement and Feedback guidance for more details.