What's new - May 2008

 

Welcome to the web update page.  The aim of this page is to highlight new information relevant to Grants and Regulations.  Previous months updates can be accessed via the left hand links.
If you wish to have electronic updates emailed to you as soon as they are published, please use the subscribe link on the right.

EWGS now open

The English Woodland Grant Scheme is now open and we are accepting applications for grant support with first payment year of 2009/2010.

New forms and guidance

All of the forms and guidance have been updated for 2008 (and are dated May 2008). They are all available for download from the EWGS pages now with paper versions available from your local Forestry Commission office from early June.

We recommend getting a new pack to ensure you have the latest copies of the scheme rules and forms, as there are some notable changes such as SBI (see below).

All of the EWGS Operations Notes have also been updated and will be available in the EWGS document library and your local FC office from the 2nd June.

National and regional grant prospectus

The Forestry Commission is still waiting for a final settlement in relation to Treasury and RDPE budgets and hence cannot provide finalised national or regional budget provisions for 2009/2010 and beyond. Until the Secretary of State confirms the final settlement in the coming months, we cannot provide final EWGS budget figures.

Following internal discussions and liaison with Defra and the national Applicants Focus Group (stakeholders), we decided to:

• plan on the basis of a conservative 2009/2010 EWGS budget estimate, similar to the 2008/2009 final amount

• open EWGS for applications with effect from late May 2008 but confirm final budget (through the publication of national and regional prospectuses on the FC website) after the Secretary of State’s settlement.

By this strategy we are seeking to:

• retain confidence in EWGS, enable forward planning and support business continuity

• avoid any obvious discrepancies between the management of Environmental Stewardship and EWGS

• remain responsive to a challenging budget settlement.

As with previous years we will manage case fall-out to ensure that the available budget is utilised as fully as possible.

Customer and land registration

Last autumn we alerted the sector to this forthcoming new requirement and published full details on our website of how to apply and certain transitional arrangements. From now on EWGS applicants must be registered with a Single Business Identifier (SBI) and their land registered on the Rural Land Register (RLR) before applying. Any applications where the customer or land has not been registered or the SBI/RLR details not provided will be returned. For further details on customer and land registration, please refer to EWGS1 General Guide (PDF 155kb) or Operations Note 19: Customer and land registration (PDF 52kb).

Woodland Creation Grant (WCG) 2008 round

As with the 2007 round, each region has a fast track score so applications that achieve that score are offered grant on a first come first served basis. The fast track scores for 2008 are the same as last year and are detailed on the Woodland Creation Grant page.

The final deadline for WCG applications is the 30th September 2008.

If you wish to unsubscribe from EWGS Updates please email June Wells.
Any queries about the content of this update should be directed to your regional contact, or to the EWGS advice line 01223 346004.