What is the England Woodland Creation Offer?
The England Woodland Creation Offer (or EWCO for short) is a government scheme operated by the Forestry Commission to support the creation of new woodland, including through natural colonisation for areas within 75 metres of an existing woodland block or viable seed source. It covers standard capital costs up to £10,200/ha, annual maintenance costs of £400/ha for 15 years, plus extra one-off stackable payments of up to £11,600/ha. These are additional financial payments in recognition of the value a proposed woodland would bring to the environment, to nature recovery or to the local community. You will also receive a contribution towards the cost of access infrastructure, and you can retain Basic Payment Scheme payments.
With our EWCO Checker Tool, users can assess options for stacked payments, see potential carbon sequestration using built-in Woodland Carbon Code data and find potential locations to plant woodland – all helping you to identify where you might have the easiest route to a successful and financially rewarding woodland creation application.
Please note the EWCO Checker Tool provides an estimated value of what you could receive, and is in no way a binding or guaranteed summary of payment.
The minimum size for applications is as little as one hectare, which can consist of 0.1 hectare blocks.
You could receive an extra one-off stackable payment of up to £11,600 per hectare for planting woodland in the right place.*
*Increasing to £12,700 in stackable payments if eligible for the Low Sensitivity Land Payment
Who should apply for EWCO?
From farmers to estates, from landowners to foresters and public bodies, the England Woodland Creation Offer is an option for everyone.
Whether you’re trying to diversify your business selling carbon credits, restore an area using natural colonisation, or simply want to access funding to create more woodland on your land, assessing whether EWCO is right for you is essential. Eligible for areas as small as one hectare, if you manage a piece of land and want to find funding for your tree-planting ambitions, then our EWCO Checker Tool is the perfect place to start. To learn more about the England Woodland Creation Offer, or to apply for this funding, please contact your local Forestry Commission Woodland Creation Team or visit the EWCO guidance page.
What are the benefits?
The England Woodland Creation Offer is designed to benefit both people and the planet. It aims to reward proposed woodland plans that benefit the environment, nature recovery or the local community by offering stackable additional contributions – these are one-off additional financial payments and include:
Nature Recovery
Available where woodland creation will expand areas of existing native woodland, create areas of new native woodland, or expand habitat…
Water Quality
Available where woodland creation will help reduce pollutants through land use change that reduces fertilizer application or by creating…
Flood Risk Management
Available where woodland creation can help reduce the risk of flooding.
Riparian Buffers
Available where the creation of native broadleaved woodland along watercourses will improve river habitats.
Close to Settlements
Available where woodland creation will provide social and environmental benefits by being close to people.
Recreational Access
Will provide new long-term permissive access for recreation.
Land App provides unique and essential tools to help land managers to prepare for ecological and financial resilience
Our bespoke EWCO Checker Tool in Land App revolutionises the application process. Combining the latest environmental and spatial data with our intuitive mapping platform, the tool empowers farmers and landowners to easily see how they could integrate trees into their land and where they’d benefit financially.
Accessed through a free digital map, the EWCO Checker Tool visually shows landowners down to individual field parcel level, what EWCO additional stackable payments they might receive for areas potentially eligible for tree-planting.
As official partners of the Forestry Commission, we’re proud to be helping landowners to plant trees whilst maximising “public goods” across England. By understanding the options for planting, “stacked” payments and potential carbon sequestration – landowners can rapidly assess where they are most likely to get the easiest route through to woodland creation.
The rates for Additional Contributions (determined at the woodland block level) are:
| Public benefit | total £/ha |
|---|---|
|
Nature recovery - premium |
£3,300 |
|
Nature recovery - higher |
£2,800 |
|
Nature recovery - lower |
£1,100 |
|
Flood risk management |
£1000 |
|
Riparian buffers |
£2,500 |
|
Close to settlements |
£600 |
|
Recreational access |
£3,700 |
|
Water quality |
£500 |
*Subject to terms
Understanding your potential under the Woodland Carbon Code
The EWCO Checker Tool has partnered with the Woodland Carbon Code to provide figures from the biomass carbon look-up tables within the Woodland Carbon Calculator. This uses a predetermined native broadleaved woodland type species, initial spacing, yield class and management activity for your area of interest, to predict estimated total carbon sequestration over 100 years in tonnes per hectare (t/ha).
This is a summary of the gross carbon sequestration potential and therefore does not include losses from establishment, or the model precision and risk buffer removals utilised within the woodland carbon calculator.
This summary is also subject to meeting the eligibility and additionality requirements of the Woodland Carbon Code and submission of a completed Woodland Carbon Calculator and map upon registration. For a more accurate carbon calculation or to learn more about the code please visit: https://woodlandcarboncode.org.uk/ or email info@woodlandcarboncode.org.uk.
How to find your EWCO funding
To apply for a grant under EWCO follow these steps:
1. Identify Potential Eligibility
Run our instant “EWCO Checker” tool for your land area, using our bespoke data layers to identify which areas of your land are potentially eligible for EWCO additional stackable payments.
2. Prioritise High Value Sites
Dive deeper into your funding options using the different plans created by Land App – use the “high value sites” layer to assess where tree-planting will create the most revenue for your land.
3. Create your Land Management Plan
Using your appraised field parcels, create your land management plan using our custom template to design where woodland will be placed within the landscape alongside your other options.
4. Contact the Forestry Commission
Once your EWCO management plan is ready to go, contact your Woodland Creation Officer to submit your application to the Forestry Commission ready for ground truthing and assessment by their team of experts.
You can find out more information about EWCO on the Forestry Commission’s EWCO guidance page.
Have additional questions?
Send us an email to support@thelandapp.com