To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs pursuant to AQW 19845-17/22, why there has been low take up of the Small Woodland Grant Scheme in East Antrim.

The Small Woodland Grant Scheme opened for the first time in December 2020 which provided a short window in which applicants could apply for and plant new woodland under the scheme last year. The reopening of the scheme earlier this year in June provides more time for land owners to avail of the scheme. At this introductory stage of the new Small Woodland Grant Scheme no trends can yet be established regarding the uptake of the scheme on a constituency basis.

Anecdotally, however as you will be aware, the East Antrim Constituency is relatively small geographically (about 4% of NI land cover) with substantial urban population. Additionally it includes significant areas such as the Antrim Hills Special Protection Area and Garron Plateau ASSI where environmental objectives favour protecting existing habitats and species. These factors are likely to have a bearing on the amount of land suitable for planting and hence the uptake of the scheme in the constituency. The Small Woodland Grant Scheme is available to encourage owners of suitable land in the constituency to plant new native woodlands.