The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has just announced that they have temporarily closed the capital grant offer to new applications. Defra have stated that the closure of the scheme is due to high demand, leading to unsustainable spending levels. Their forecasting shows a 49% increase in spending this year compared with 2023/24 and a 125% increase compared to 2022/23.
A total of 76 grants will be affected. Only the capital grants for woodland tree health, management plans, protection and infrastructure and Higher Tier will remain open. Existing agreements will continue as usual. For those who have recently applied for the capital grant items that have temporarily closed, applications will be put on hold.
Further updates on the capital grant scheme will not be revealed until early 2025.
A link to the Defra blog on capital grants can be found here.
