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.