East Riding of Yorkshire Community Tree Planting Fund now open for applications

Notes to editors

Humber Forest Further Information

The Humber Forest is not a single ‘forest’ covering an area, but the collection of many trees, woodlands and hedgerows across the East Riding of Yorkshire and Hull.

We provide free advice and guidance, up to 100% funding, and project support for landowners, businesses and communities wanting to plant trees, woodlands, and hedgerows in the area. Humber Forest will help make your planting experience as easy and hassle-free as possible.

This includes:

• Site feasibility visits
• Site planning assistance
• Basic background checks and appropriate desktop surveys
• Full Grant Funding for hedgerows, woodland, standard trees and potentially any related materials (i.e., Tree protection, fencing around new woodland)
• Providing a delivery partner (if required)
• Support through planning, delivery and the first five years no matter what size
• Fully funded maintenance for the first 5 years

Please note, being in receipt of advice or funding doesn’t mean you’re under any obligation to make your land accessible to the public.

We work with East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Hull City Council, Defra, The Forestry Commission, The Woodland Trust, The Community Forest Trust, and others, to create a ‘one team approach’ to tree-planting projects. This means if your project is more suitable to be funded through another source, we will always act in your interest and direct you to other funding sources.

Funding and Checks

Humber Forest has access to two Defra grants for tree planting. Trees For Climate is a Defra funded programme only open to areas within Community Forests. It’s the second largest infrastructure programme in England, with the aim of increasing tree canopy cover across England. It is open for rural and urban tree planting projects with a minimum of 0.1 hectares. Trees for Climate is able to fund hedgerows and woodland creation with whip planting.

The second fund, Northern Forest, is only open to the four community forests that make up the Northern Forest, including Humber Forest. The Northern Forest funds planting in urban areas only, and can fund standards alongside whip planting.

The Humber Forest team will undertake a variety of checks on your behalf to ensure the woodland creation will not have any adverse effects on the existing environment. These are basic desktop survey checks against any protections or designations on site, or ecological or archaeological significance.

The Process

Once you have contacted Humber Forest with some information about your site and any potential plans you may have, a project officer will arrange a site visit. This is an opportunity to assist with the planning, and for you to ask any questions.

The site will then be mapped on our system, and a copy will be sent to you for approval. Adjustments can be made at any time before the checks.

Once the map has been approved, the information will be sent to our associate archaeologist and ecologist for further checks. It may be necessary to alter the planting plan after this depending on the results.

If the site is approved for planting, it will go enter our delivery pipeline with an estimated planting date. Planting season is late October to early March.

A delivery partner can be assigned, who will plant the project according to plan. We work with PATT Foundation (Plant a Tree Today) or TCV (The Conservation Volunteers) who are both local conservation charities. They will also undertake the 5 years maintenance.

Alternatively, you can choose a contractor or deliver the project yourself. All grant funding is paid after confirmation on project delivery.