Woodland Creation – Small or Farm Woodland
This is an old version of the page
This is an old version of the page
Date published: 30 March, 2015
Date superseded: 2 July, 2015
Aim
The aim of this scheme is to create small-scale mixed broadleaved and conifer woodlands on farms and other rural land.
Eligibility criteria
You must meet all eligibility criteria listed in the Woodland Creation page and:
- you must comply with the UK Forestry Standard
- the minimum planting width is 15 metres
- the minimum block size is 0.25 hectares up to a maximum five hectares
- up to 10 hectares of woodland is eligible per business. This is a small woodland option and is restricted to stand-alone applications of 10 hectares or less in size. It is not to be used as part of a design with other woodland creation options and applications greater than 10 hectares should not include this option
- your application must meet the species composition criteria in the table below
| Composition of small or farm woodland | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Item | Minimum (per cent) | Maximum (per cent) | Minimum stocking density on the planted area at year five (per hectare) |
| Broadleaves suitable for timber production | 20 | 60 | 2500 |
| Diverse conifer | 20 | 60 | 2500 |
| Native broadleaves or shrubs [1] | 10 | 10 | 1100 |
| Designed open ground [2] | 0 | 10 | n/a |
| [1] Up to 20 per cent of the native broadleaves can be native woody shrubs. [2] You must refer to the designed open ground guidance on the Forestry Commission Scotland Technical Support page to see how designed open ground will apply to your application. For example additional open ground, in excess of the specified percentage, may be permissible depending on the specifics of the site, but will not be eligible for grant support. | |||
Please note that in order to achieve 100 per cent from the table above you will not be able to select all minimum or all of the maximum values.
Species selection
As an initial first step in determining whether or not the site is climatically suitable, you should view the Forestry Grant Scheme (2014–2020) Site Suitability folder on the Forestry Commission Scotland Map Viewer page.
Any applications that are not shown as being climatically suitable will only be considered if you can clearly demonstrate that the site is suitable for the chosen species of trees, for example where there is localised shelter in an otherwise exposed location.
As per the eligibility criteria of the Woodland Creation general guidance the tree species must be 'suitable' or 'very suitable' to the site and have the capacity to achieve the following minimum average yield classes across the application area:
- yield class 6 for broadleaves suitable for timber production
- yield class 8 for Scots pine and larch
- yield class 12 for Norway spruce, western red cedar and other conifer species