Use this guidance to help you fill out the project costs section of your application. Please read the full Coetiroedd Bach: Tiny Forests Application guidance before applying.

All of the points below will be expanded upon in sufficient detail in the Coetiroedd Bach (Tiny Forests) training sessions, which will take place after the funding decisions have been made.

Tiny Forest membership fee

You must include a budget line for Earthwatch membership and training. There are two options for the Tiny Forest membership fee. This fee is per Coetiroedd Bach site and you will need to factor this into your budget for each Coetir Bach even if applying for multiple sites within the same application. Please note this is a one-off payment (and not an annual membership fee).

£750 per Coetir Bach (preferred option):

• Become part of the Tiny Forest Tree Keeper network. Interested volunteers will gain access to webinars, events, newsletters, support and other opportunities to maximise engagement with their forest.
• Involvement in a national research programme on the environmental and social benefits of urban forests as a nature-based solution.
• Be registered as part of the Tiny Forest network with a dedicated profile page for your forest
• Receive a login to the portal for access to all our Tiny Forest resources and a forum space to share knowledge and questions across the Tiny Forest network
• Gain access to all surveys (for example biodiversity and carbon capture surveys) to support monitoring of your forest.

£250 per Coetir Bach:

• Involvement in a national research programme on the environmental and social benefits of urban forests as a nature-based solution.
• Be registered as part of the Tiny Forest network with a dedicated profile page for your forest
• Receive a login to the portal for access to all our Tiny Forest resources and a forum space to share knowledge and questions across the Tiny Forest network
• Gain access to all surveys (for example biodiversity and carbon capture surveys) to support monitoring of your forest.

Capital and revenue – eligible costs

It is important that you identify which of your project costs are capital and revenue. Applications can include any of the following:

Capital costs

Capital spending is money that is spent on investment and things that will create growth in the future.

Examples of acceptable capital costs are provided below. Please note that this is not a definitive list and all items of expenditure will be considered on a case-by-case basis:

• purchase of 600 native trees (UK sourced and grown), typically £1,500 to £2,500 depending on species
• purchase and installation of interpretation boards, approximately £200 to £300 (Tiny Forest branding and designs will be provided by the Welsh Government)
• Purchase of monitoring kit for four research areas: Thermal Comfort, Carbon Storage, Biodiversity, Flood Mitigation; approximately £500. Kit list could contain: leaflets, kit bag (70L), wooden canes, tape measure, ball of string, tree species list, tree ID guide, scissors, callipers, metal ruler, infiltrometer (piping), stopwatches, mallet, measuring jugs, wooden planks, water bottles, pocket penetrometers, trowels, weather station, tripod and adapter foot, biodiversity ID guides, field sheets. Earthwatch will provide advice on this.
• Consider any surveys that might need to be done for the area: utilities, possibly Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), contamination survey, etc. (Details in ‘Surveys’ section below)
• Preparation of site, such as groundworks, fencing, clearing litter and vegetation. Contractor fees for ground preparation are typically in the region of £8,000 to £13,000 depending on contractor, site conditions and geographic area. (Details in ‘Ground preparation’ section below)
• constructing accessible pathways and gates with a commitment to keep them open to the public and maintain them for at least 20 years, if not indefinitely
• creating nature/educational trails
• creating spaces for recreation, play and education (such as an outdoor classroom)
• benches/seating
• Staff time for project delivery. This means costs that help you to create the Coetiroedd Bach / Tiny Forests; for example: project planning, procurement materials, financial management of the project, compiling and analysing management information of project delivery, which is no more than 10% of the total capital cost. (Details in ‘Staff time’ section below)
• Maintenance of the Tiny Forest until the canopy closes, usually around three years. (Details in ‘Ongoing maintenance’ section below)
• Project delivery. This means costs that help you to create the Coetiroedd Bach / Tiny Forests; for example: project planning, procurement materials, financial management of the project, compiling and analysing management information of project delivery, which is no more than 10% of the total capital cost.
• Welsh language provision, such as costs of translation

Revenue costs

Revenue funding can help with the overall cost of running the project. This includes costs that involve people in the project delivery.

Revenue funding may be used to:

• contribute to additional core/operating costs of running the project
• events to promote the woodland scheme to the wider community, and to celebrate community achievements
• additional hours for an existing volunteer co-ordinator to recruit, train and support volunteers to participate in delivering the woodland
• volunteering good practice and expenses (in line with Wales Council for Voluntary Action guidance)
• project promotion activity
• any reasonable expenditure that will enable the project to succeed

Ineligible costs

The following items are examples of costs which are not eligible. This is not a definitive list and all items of expenditure will be considered on a case-by-case basis:

• purchase of land
• cost of leasing land
• purchase of buildings
• re-stocking of trees on a site that has been felled
• work you are legally responsible for undertaking
• any physical work on site carried out before the authorised start of work date
• purchase of vehicles
• own labour and equipment costs
• medium/large scale machinery and equipment
• general office equipment and furniture
• maintenance costs
• working capital
• reclaimable VAT
• costs connected with a leasing contract, such as the lessors margin, interest financing cost, overheads and insurance charges
• costs of arranging overdraft facilities, loans or other financial support instruments – including any associated fees or other charges
• overheads allocated or apportioned at rates materially in excess of those used for any similar work carried out by the applicant
• notional expenditure
• payments for activity of a political nature
• depreciation, amortisation and impairment of assets purchased with the help of the grant

Costs which do not directly relate to the delivery of your project are also not eligible, including:

• provisions
• contingent liabilities
• profit made by the applicant
• dividends
• interest charges
• service charges arising on finance leases, hire purchase and credit arrangements
• costs resulting from the deferral of payments to creditors
• costs involved in winding up a company
• payments for unfair dismissal
• payments into private pension schemes
• payments for unfunded pensions
• compensation for loss of office
• bad debts arising from loans to employees, proprietors, partners, directors, guarantors, shareholders or a person connected with any of these
• payments for gifts or donations
• entertainments, for example staff parties
• statutory fines and penalties
• criminal fines and damages
• legal expenses in respect of litigation

Surveys

Consider any surveys that might need to be done for the area: utilities, possibly EIA, contamination survey, etc. Additionally, the Tiny Forest methodology includes a compulsory soil condition, compaction and composition survey. The testing kit for this (soil corer, penetrometer, nutrient test kit, etc) is approximately £400. If you are applying for multiple Coetiroedd Bach you only need to buy one soil testing kit.

Ground preparation

Landscaper fees for ground preparation are typically in the region of £8,000 to £13,000 depending on contractor, site conditions and geographic area. Works include:

• CAT scan of planting area and dig 3x test pits
• Prepare site in line with Miyawaki methodology:
  • Mark out site. Remove vegetation layer, store on site and relocate to bottom of excavated area
  • Remove topsoil layer, store on site
  • Excavate Coetir Bach area to required depth
  • Backfill trench with half the excavated soil
  • Supply and incorporate half of the soil supplements
  • Backfill trench with remaining excavated soil and incorporate remainder of soil supplements.
  • Replace topsoil as final layer
• Put temporary barrier around the site until the fencing is installed
• Supply matured woodchip mulch to a 50-100mm depth for volunteers to lay
• Supply and install fencing and gate
• Supply and install 6 concrete slabs (biodiversity tiles)
• Supply and install of woodchip in seating area/paths to 100mm depth
• Supply and install benches – typically 5 forest school style benches if a classroom area is included
• Supply and install 2 timber posts for interpretation panel. Install interpretation panel
• Making good to site and surrounding area affected by works

Staff time

Project delivery. This means costs that help you to create the Coetiroedd Bach; for example: project planning, procurement materials, financial management of the project, compiling, and analysing management information of project delivery, which is no more than 10% of the total capital cost. Specific considerations could include:

• site assessment, soil testing and analysis estimate 2 days plus travel
• planting day, typically 2 staff per 2 days for preparation and delivery
• Post planting community activities. You can plan what activities you want to run, for example citizen science.
• citizen science activities
• project management time for stakeholder liaison, community consultation, event management, event promotion, landscaper arrangements, etc.
• time for forest design, tree species list

Ongoing maintenance

You should be planning to engage your local community in the maintenance of the Coetir Bach. Maintenance activities until the tree canopy closes (approximately three years) can include:

• weeding
• watering
• fixing fence, gate or possibly restocking if the site is damaged