The Woodland Harvesting, Processing and Marketing Grant (WHPMG) scheme was introduced by the Forestry Commission under the England Rural Development Programme in 2005. Two rounds of applications were invited, with total funding available of £600,000. It was decided that the scheme should be introduced on a pilot basis, with one pilot in the South East Region and the other taking in contiguous areas of the North East and Yorkshire & The Humber Regions.
The Forestry Commission through with the two RDI-run woodland initiatives, Northwoods and Yorwoods, to facilitate the scheme in the northern pilot. The role of the initiatives was to provide support to businesses with the application and business planning process. 11 applications were supported by the two initiatives, covering a diverse range of equipment from harvesting and transport machinery to woodfuel processing and handling equipment. Of the 11 applications, 10 were successful, channeling about £250,000 of grant aid into tree and timber businesses in the two regions.
The facilitated pilot demonstrated the benefits of targeting support within the sector, and the limited capacity within the industry to bring forward proposals of a sufficiently robust nature without this. Staff from the public agencies involved in the pilot commented positively on the involvement of RDI and the higher quality of applications where RDI had been involved.
