The Forestry Commission Scotland has announced that the Scottish Government has agreed to an increase in the case value limit, only for ongoing approval Woodland Creation cases, to £750,000.  All woodland management cases will continue to have the £250,000 case value limit applied. As before, these ongoing approval procedures will be used as long as the FSC has money available in its budget.

 

This change is being implemented immediately.  Impact on individual cases very much depends on specific circumstances, i.e. are woodland agents ready to commit the proposal on 12th February for March RPAC.

 

Proposals will proceed through the system as normal until “committed”. Once “committed”, case officers assess and review the eligibility of the proposals against the criteria for “Ongoing Approval of Forestry Proposals”. The value of the proposal must be confirmed as:-

 

£750,000 maximum for cases containing Woodland Creation only.

£750,000 maximum for cases containing Woodland Creation options and Sustainable Management of Forests and/or Woodland Improvement Grant options of which the SMF/WIG total cannot exceed £250,000.

£250,000 maximum for cases containing only SMF and/or WIG options.

 

These latest changes will further encourage new woodland planting schemes within Scotland. For further details please visit http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-6wxjmk.

Woodland creation schemes that have 2010 as their capital cost claim year must be planted by 15^th May, in order for the annual recurrent payments to begin at the start of 2011. This tough deadline has now been made even more difficult with around six weeks’ worth of ground preparation and planting lost to the recent severe winter weather and the Scottish Government have given no sign yet that they are prepared to relax the deadline.

 

Estate owners face a difficult choice if planting is unlikely to be finished by 15^th May. Their options are:- 

 

Through ConFor, Bowlts have raised this issue with both the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Minister for the Environment, and are awaiting a response.

 

Bowlts are particularly concerned for both forestry contractors and tree nurseries who, having suffered a particularly difficult 2009, were hoping for SRDP finally to deliver during the current year. Hopefully ConFor’s ongoing lobbying will soon bring some good news on the funding dilemma.

 

It is hoped within the coming year that Bowlts will supervise the planting of approximately 750,000 trees within native woodland schemes. Here’s hoping there are less stormy times ahead!