Small Grants: Woodland Creation - Low Sensitivity Area

Thumbnail

Resource ID

26a1f656-5d56-4620-8b72-8e62fda4646f

Date

Aug. 15, 2022, midnight, Creation Date

Abstract

This map indicates areas in Wales where farmers and land managers can apply for small areas of tree planting between 0.1 and 2 hectares, under the Small Grants – Woodland Creation scheme. This is a simple scheme which aims to encourage planting of small areas of woodland on land which is agriculturally improved or of low environmental value in Wales. This map layer indicates low sensitivity areas whereby no identified reasons to avoid tree planting were found. It is recommended that you carry out a detailed site assessment of the proposed area for planting, in order to be able to answer the questions within the grant application. The low sensitivity area excludes areas such as priority habitats, unenclosed land, and common grazing to avoid the risk of negative environmental or landscape impacts. If the land you want to plant is not shown within this low sensitivity layer, you can apply to the Woodland Creation Planning Scheme (WCPS) and you will get support from a Registered Woodland Planner to develop a Woodland Creation Plan. The Woodland Opportunity Map (WOM), also available on DataMapWales, is available to assist as a decision support tool for the full woodland creation grant scheme and should be used if considering planting more than 2 hectares of woodland using a grant from the Welsh Government. Funding from the Small Grants – Woodland Creation scheme is available for tree planting to create shelterwoods for stock shelter and shade, tree planting alongside watercourses to improve water quality, and in field corners or small fields for stock shelter, biodiversity and woodfuel. Under this scheme, the application process provides a quick and simple way of ensuring proposals meet the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) requirements without needing to send a woodland creation plan for verification to NRW. Lineage The Ordnance Survey (OS) high water mark for Wales (derived from an OS Boundary Line product - https://datamap.gov.wales/layers/inspire-wg:wales_hwm) was used as a base layer, this then had the following layers erased using geoprocessing in ArcMap10.8, which are all present within the Woodland Opportunity Map (https://datamap.gov.wales/maps/woodland-opportunity-map-2021/) for download as open data. Common Land Deep Peat (including Modified Deep Peat) Grassland Fungi Historic Environment Features (HEF) Historic Environment Features (HEF) 5m Buffer Open Access Potential Habitat for Fritillary Butterflies over Bracken Potential Habitat for Great Crested Newts Potential Habitat for Open-ground Dependent Birds Priority Habitat - High Sensitivity Priority Habitat Mosaics - Investigation Required Regionally Important Geodiversity Site (RIGS) Royal Historic Parks and Gardens (RHPG) Scheduled Monument (SM) Scheduled Monument (SM) 50m Buffer Sensitive Arable Plants Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) 100/300m Buffer Upland Special Protection Areas (SPA) Upland Special Protection Areas (SPA) 500m Buffer National Forestry Inventory 2018 (Existing woodland) Ordnance Survey (OS) Water Bodies <400m2 Phase 1 vegetation survey - Land above upper limit of enclosure Once these layers were erased, the remaining polygon area was exploded into individual features, and any areas <0.1 hectare were also erased since these would be ineligible for planting.

Edition

Responsible

natalie.small@gov.wales

Point of Contact

Small

natalie.small@gov.wales

Purpose

Maintenance Frequency

None

Type

not filled

Restrictions

None

License

Open Government Licence for Public Sector Information

Language

Temporal Extent

Start

End

Supplemental Information

Data Quality

Extent

x0: 174999.984375
x1: 354671.4375
y0: 165535.71875
y1: 395136.53125

Spatial Reference System Identifier

EPSG:27700

Keywords

no keywords

Category

None

Regions

Global

Resource Metadata

Small Grants: Woodland Creation - Low Sensitivity Area