Forestry & Woodland Training in the East Midlands
Rural Development Initiatives Ltd. have received approval for a two year programme of forestry and woodland training courses and grant aid for farmers, foresters and land based businesses in the East Midlands. As part of the Lantra administered Landskills East Midlands, Forestry Skills East Midlands is funded through the Rural Development Programme for England by EMDA and DEFRA.
The programme will cover a wide range of business and technical skills, including machine operations, woodfuel, silviculture, pest control and marketing, amongst many other topics. Training is demand led, so if businesses identify a need for other skills the project will seek to source appropriate training. In addition there is a fund for technical training which can pay up to 70% of the cost of technical courses such as forest machine operator certification. RDI will work with local training providers in the region to ensure delivery of training at a time and place to suit businesses.
Carrick Armer, the project officer for Forestry Skills East Midlands, said ‘This is the first time there has been a region-wide programme of funded forestry and woodland skills training in the East Midlands so we are expecting a high demand – we have already had a lot of interest even before the programme officially begins. We aim to support businesses in accessing high quality training which is relevant to their needs and the opportunities that will arise in the coming years’.
The nature of the training to be delivered, where and when will be the subject of a regional ‘Training Needs Assessment’ which will be undertaken in the early months of the programme. For more information, please see the LandSkills East Midlands page.
Project Officer: Carrick Armer. Call 01765 609355 or email carrick.armer@ruraldevelopment.org.uk.
