Deadline: 16-Feb-23
Are you a landowner and/or have full management control of land? Are you looking to improve, manage or create new woodlands? Can your project promote community involvement? For example, through the planning and provision of footpaths, nature trails, or sculptures? Do you require a grant from £40,000 to £250,000? If you answered yes to these questions, then The Woodland Investment Grant (TWIG) scheme is for you.
TWIG is for landowners and/or those with full management control of land. Your grant will be used to enhance and expand existing woodlands, and create new woodlands in line with the UK Forestry Standard.
These woodlands must have the potential to become part of the National Forest in the future. This means the woodlands must be:
- Well-managed
- Accessible
- Give local communities the opportunity to get involved.
Offers
-
The scheme will offer:
- Grants of £40,000 to £250,000 for woodland projects (exceptional projects costing more than £250,000 may also be considered)
- Up to 100% funding
- Up to two years to deliver the project
- Capital and revenue funding (differences explained in the ‘What costs can you apply for?’ section)
- Large, ambitious and complex projects can use TWIG funding with other Welsh Government grants, as well as other sources of complimentary public and private funding
- A maximum of one TWIG grant per site at any one time (you can make more than one application)
- advice and support from Woodland Liaison Officers to plan your project (these officers come into post throughout 2022–2023, so may not be available during the initial funding round, but please speak to their staff for guidance instead)
- Advice and support from us on how to apply
- There will be five rounds of TWIG funding over the next two years. Please read the ‘Application deadlines and key dates’ section for more information on timings.
Funding Information
- The total available funding is £1.9million in the financial year 2022–2023. Future year budgets are likely to be approximately £3m.
- The programme is jointly funded by the Welsh Government and The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
- This is mainly a fund to carry out capital works. A maximum of 25% of each grant can be allocated to revenue spending. In addition, up to 10% of the capital element may be used for project planning and other direct project implementation costs. Guidance for what counts as revenue and capital costs is available in the ‘What costs can you apply for?’ section.
What they are looking for
-
Your project should:
- Restore, enhance and/or create woodlands
- Deliver accessible woodlands for all to enjoy
- Create a woodland with a plan for future maintenance. Post-project, a single payment to cover five years of maintenance can be included in your grant application. In order to claim this money, you will be required to submit a detailed management plan for the site, on completion of the project (find out more under ‘How to apply’).
- Meet the needs of local people as a public space and contribute to ecosystem services within the local area. For example, addressing biodiversity loss and creating local jobs.
- Demonstrate multiple benefits spanning environmental, social, economic and cultural wellbeing
- Consider Natural Resources Wales (NRW) area statement maps, UK Forestry Standard guidance and the Woodland Opportunity Map 2021 for guidance on the likely sensitivities on a proposed site for new planting
-
They have a particular interest in:
- Urban areas that lack green space
- Areas that will enable connected nature networks across the length and
- Breadth of Wales.
Eligibility Criteria
- The scheme is open to any landowners/managers including not-for-profit organisations and private owners. This is provided that you have the right permissions, licences and consents in place to undertake activity.
Ineligible Costs
-
The following items are examples of costs, which are not eligible for TWIG. This Is not a definitive list and all items of expenditure will be considered on a case-bycase basis:
- Purchase of land
- Cost of leasing land
- Purchase of buildings
- Projects solely removing/managing ash dieback
- Re-stocking of trees on a site that has been felled
- Work legally responsible for undertaking
- Any physical work on site carried out before the authorised start of work date
- Purchase of vehicles
- Own labour and equipment costs
- Medium/large scale machinery and equipment. However, works which
- Require medium/larger equipment and/or specialised skills (ie: not for use by
- Local volunteers) can be contracted in and funded through this scheme.
- General office equipment and furniture
- Maintenance costs
- Working capital
- Reclaimable VAT
- Costs connected with a leasing contract, such as the lessors margin, interest
- Financing cost, overheads and insurance charges
- Costs of arranging overdraft facilities, loans or other financial support
- Instruments – including any associated fees or other charges
- Overheads allocated or apportioned at rates materially in excess of those
- Used for any similar work carried out by the applicant
- Notional expenditure
- Payments for activity of a political nature
- Depreciation, amortisation and impairment of assets purchased with the help
- Of the grant
- Provisions
- Contingent liabilities
- Profit made by the applicant
- Dividends
- Interest charges
- Service charges arising on finance leases, hire purchase and credit
- Arrangements
- Costs resulting from the deferral of payments to creditors
- Costs involved in winding up a company
- Payments for unfair dismissal
- Payments into private pension schemes
- Payments for unfunded pensions
- Compensation for loss of office
- Bad debts arising from loans to employees, proprietors, partners, directors,
- Guarantors, shareholders or a person connected with any of these
- Payments for gifts and donations
- Entertainments, for example staff parties
- Statutory fines and penalties
- Criminal fines and damages
- Legal expenses in respect of litigation.
For more information, visit TWIG.
For more information, visit https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/funding/the-woodland-investment-grant
