This Forestry Commission webinar is designed to support any owners of ash trees, including: current and prospective grant applicants, local authorities, agents, and landowners.

It will cover the issues presented by ash dieback and introduce the recent improvements to the Tree Health Pilot’s ash dieback grant which has been developed to support the management of ash trees alongside roads and footpaths. The changes made to the grant were informed by feedback gained through a series of workshops run with Local Authorities, in partnership with The Tree Council and Forest Research.

We have:

Made changes to eligibility meaning that lower tier local authorities, such as Parish Councils, are now eligible as a group member.
Simplified the application form which will mean agreements, and in turn payments, can be issued quicker.
Improved guidance with an easy-to-follow case study included, to help lead facilitators through the Tree Health Pilot processes.
Expanded restocking eligibility, enabling higher tier local authorities acting as group facilitators, to apply for restocking where they have felled infected ash trees.

Speakers include the Forestry Commission’s woodland officers Matthew Smith and Elliot Carpenter, Defra policy advisor Joe Harrison and a representative from the Tree Council. There will be a Q&A session at the end.

The webinar will be held on MS Teams. Please join just before the start time with your camera off and mic on mute to enable the best quality connection. The webinar will be recorded and shared in the Forestry Commission eAlert.

Ash dieback and improvements to the Tree Health Pilot grant webinar