Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier for Woodland: How the Deer Grants Fit Together

Countryside Stewardship's woodland and deer funding looks like an alphabet soup of codes until you see that it's designed to run in order. Each step produces the document the next one asks for. Get the sequence right and the applications build on each other; get it wrong and you end up rewriting plans or waiting on approvals you could have had in hand.

Step 1: a woodland management plan (PA3)

Almost everything starts with a woodland management plan approved by the Forestry Commission. PA3 pays £1,500 or more to write one, and for 2026 it's open to woods from 0.5 hectares.

Step 2: a species management plan for deer (PA7)

Where deer are a threat, PA7 pays for a species management plan: £204.79 per species type, up to £1,023.95. It sets out the impact deer are having, how you'll control and monitor them, and where. It's also what a high seat grant and CWS1 both ask for.

Step 3: capital items for protection and control

Higher Tier Capital Grants pay for the physical side: deer fencing, gates, exclosure plots, high seats, and training. They're standalone, open all year, and don't need a full Higher Tier agreement, but they do need Forestry Commission or Natural England support before you apply.

Step 4: ongoing payments through a Higher Tier agreement

Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier ↗ has been opening up to more land managers through 2026, with at least £50 million for new agreements this year. Woodland agreements start with an expression of interest and need an approved woodland management plan, and may need an agreed species management plan too. This is where CWS1 sits: £105 per hectare per year, for ten years, for the deer control and monitoring itself.

Where new planting fits instead

All of the above is about managing existing woodland. For new planting, the route is different: the Woodland Creation Planning Grant for the design, the England Woodland Creation Offer for the planting and protection, and, across much of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, Trees for Climate funding of up to 100%.

The thread running through all of it

Every step asks the same question in a different form: what are deer actually doing on this land? The woodland plan needs it, the species plan is built on it, and the Forestry Commission wants it before supporting fencing or a high seat. A Deer Number Survey & Impact Assessment answers it once, free of charge, and the same evidence carries through every application. Our Grants & Funding page keeps the current rates side by side.