Scottish forestry grants change in new year

The Scottish Forestry Grants Scheme (SFGS) will undergo changes in the new year when the new Rural Development Plan is introduced.

Goals include examining how the grant scheme can encourage and support sustainable forest management and finding the best method of targeting grants to meet key priorites.

A project steering group, led by Bob McIntosh, director Forestry Commission Scotland, aims to ensure the new system is simple to understand and easy to access and administer.

With the changes, the Farmland Premium scheme can be integrated with the main SFGS scheme. The system will dovetail with the Land Management Contract scheme, which includes forestry grants, from January 1, 2007.

The revised grants scheme will take into account the views of stakeholders and the outcome of the Scottish Forest Strategy review.