The English Woodland Grant Scheme (EWGS) was launched in 2005 and offered 6 grants for the creation and stewardship of woodlands. This dataset contains the scheme or 'case' boundaries that make up the EWGS applications approved by the Forestry Commission.
EWGS is now closed and was superseded by Countryside Stewardship in 2015.
Grant types under EWGS:
Woodland Planning Grant (WPG) - 'To support the preparation of woodland management plans' Designed primarily to aid the production of management plans - the foundation of sustainable management. The management plan template meets UKWAS planning requirements, thus assisting entry into certification.
Woodland Assessment Grant (WAG) - 'To support information gathering that improves management decisions'. Designed to obtain further information, where there is an identified need. The information required should inform management decisions and reflect the sensitivity of the site and proposed work.
Woodland Regeneration Grant (WRG) - 'To support desirable changes in woodland at the time of greatest opportunity'. Designed to support the re-establishment of trees when woodland felling has taken place.
Woodland Improvement Grant (WIG) - 'To support capital projects in woodlands'. Designed to support work such as access tracks, uneconomic thinning, coppicing, rhododendron clearance and public access facilities.
Woodland Management Grant (WMG) - 'To support the basic management activities that underpin woodland
sustainability'. Designed to support operations that maintain or enhance the environmental and social value e.g. ride management, pest management, coppicing and uneconomic thinning.
Woodland Creation Grant (WCG) - 'To support the creation of properly designed and well located new woodlands'
Further information can be found in the 'EWGS General Guide' available from the Forestry Commission England's website in addition to the Regional Prospectus for particular grant types:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/forestry-commission
There are two spatial datasets associated with the EWGS. These represent the Case Boundary - this dataset - and the Sub-compartments that are encapsulated by a case boundary. Sub-compartments are available as a separate dataset and contain more detail about the grants awarded to each case.
EWGS Sub-compartments vs case boundaries:
Sub-compartments are the smallest mapped unit of grant aided area under the EWGS. Sub-compartments are aggregated up to Case Boundaries, and these boundaries are subsequently used to describe the overall extent of the EWGS case. A single case represents one application from an applicant for grant aid, and there may be a number of different grant types contained within a single case.
All boundaries for cases that have been approved (and were not subsequently withdrawn without payment) from the inception of the EWGS are contained in this dataset. Some cases have passed out of the obligation period of the contract which they are under. These cases have a case status of 'Closed'.
Attributes:
CaseRef = EWGS Case unique identifier
PropName = The case name
FSArea = The Forestry Commission Area who dealt with the case
CaseType = The case type
DateApprv = The date the case was approved by the Forestry Commission
CurrStat = The status of the case at the time the data was created
AreaHa = Area in hectares of the case Attribution statement: Contains OS data © Crown copyright [and database right] [year].