Trees for Climate: Up to 100% Tree Planting Funding in Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire

Most planting grants pay a set rate per item and leave you to cover the gap. Trees for Climate is different. Delivered by the community forests that make up the Northern Forest ↗, and funded through Defra's Nature for Climate Fund, it can cover up to 100% of the cost of planting trees and hedges, along with years of aftercare.

Who covers which part of our area

The White Rose Forest ↗ is the community forest for North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. The Humber Forest ↗ covers Hull, East Yorkshire, and North Lincolnshire. For land elsewhere in the area we cover, the England Woodland Creation Offer is usually the main route, and it's still worth asking the Northern Forest team whether anything local applies.

What it pays for

Funding can cover woodland creation and natural regeneration, wood pasture, agroforestry, trees outside woods, and hedgerows. It also covers the work around the planting itself: specialist surveys, design, establishment, and infrastructure such as fences and gates. Humber Forest describes support for at least five years of establishment, with larger sites eligible for up to 15 years of establishment and maintenance payments.

Why deer still matter when the trees are free

A fully funded planting scheme that loses its young trees to deer is still a failed scheme, and a long maintenance headache on top. Because the funding can include fencing and tree protection, the real question is whether that protection matches the deer actually using the land. Roe and muntjac need guards of at least 1.2 metres and fallow 1.5, as covered in our piece on tree guard height, and on larger blocks fencing can make more sense than guarding every tree.

Timing

The planting season runs through the winter, roughly November to March, and projects need surveying and designing before anything goes in the ground, so the earlier the conversation starts the better. Council reports put the White Rose Forest's Trees for Climate programme for 2026 to 2030 at around £47 million, so there's real money behind it.

How to get started

In North or West Yorkshire, start with the White Rose Forest team through their website. In Hull, East Yorkshire, or North Lincolnshire, contact the Humber Forest at humber.forest@eastriding.gov.uk. Either way, knowing which deer are on the land before the design is fixed means the protection goes in right the first time. A Deer Number Survey & Impact Assessment gives you that, free of charge.