Gloucestershire Orchard Group

Conserves, promotes and celebrates traditional orchards in Gloucestershire

Grants

Many grants are restricted to a limited area. The grants listed below are available in Gloucestershire or parts of Gloucestershire, but there will probably be similar grants operating in most counties in the UK.

Gloucestershire County Council, Restoring Our Landscape grant

The grant offers up to 30 per cent of the total cost of traditional orchard restoration; maximum of £500 per scheme [reviewed annually]. The main condition is that the proposal must be publicly seen, i.e. from a footpath or road.

For further details contact the Landscape Architect for Gloucestershire County Council. Phone: 01452 425678

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Environmental Stewardship/Natural England

Environmental Stewardship (ES) replaces the Countryside Stewardship and Environmentally Sensitive Area Schemes.

ES funds the restoration of traditional apple, pear, cherry, plum or damson, cider or perry orchards, characterised by widely spaced standard fruit trees of old and local varieties, normally at a spacing of less than 150 trees/hectare. ES does not fund modern orchards consisting of closely spaced dwarf varieties.

Under ES the agreement holder enters a 10 year agreement during which time they agree a schedule of work to manage the orchard for cultural, historic and wildlife objectives and where appropriate plant new trees of traditional varieties.

A downloadable PDF file with further details is available here.

For further details or information, contact Chris Wedge, Gloucestershire land management team & orchard specialist, Natural England, Room 1:18, Block 3, Govt. Buildings, Burghill Road, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol BS10 6NJ    tel: 0117 9598644  mob: 077755 93965 email: chris.wedge@naturalengland.org.uk website: www.naturalengland.org.uk

BTCV People's Places

If your community group is seeking funding to create or improve a green space, this award could help.  Funded by the New Opportunities Fund (Green Spaces & Sustainable Communities Programme), grants of £3,000 to £10,000 are available.

Contact: BTCV Gloucestershire: James Aylward. BTCV, Tithe Barn Centre, Brockworth Court, Brockworth, Gloucester. GL3 4QU. Tel: (01452) 864805.

South Gloucestershire Grants

South Gloucestershire Council operate a grant scheme for orchards:

1. South Gloucestershire Environment Grant for local groups or voluntary organizations, for environmental projects which are of benefit to the wider community. Individuals may also apply. Up to 80% grant support can be provided.
2. Biodiversity Action Grant, in conjunction with English Nature, to offer support (up to 50%, to a max. of £500) to landowners for work which will conserve and/or enhance the biodiversity of South Gloucestershire.

Contact Stuart Bardsley, 01454 863468, stuart.bardsley@southglos.gov.uk South Gloucestershire Council, Civic Centre, High Street, Kingswood, South Gloucestershire BS15 9TR.