As the planting season nears its end, Forestry England is celebrating the completion of an ambitious four-year woodland creation programme with 1.8 million trees planted at 16 new woodlands across England expanding the nation’s forests.
Launched in March 2021, the programme, funded by the government’s Nature for Climate Fund, has planted 16 new woodlands across England together covering 1,000 hectares. These woodlands will offer rich habitats for wildlife, beautiful spaces for people to enjoy and be a sustainable source of timber in the years ahead.
York Community Woodland was the first new site to open to visitors in August 2024, with more set to welcome people this year. Most of the new woodlands will have public access under CROW designation, alongside the majority of the 1,500 woodlands and forests in Forestry England’s care.
Beth Cambridge, Forestry England Head of Woodland Creation, said, “This ambitious programme is our largest woodland creation initiative for decades. These new woodlands will bring benefits for hundreds of years, providing crucial green spaces for communities, providing a sustainable source of timber and supporting wildlife to flourish. And they’ll help tackle the climate emergency through the many benefits woodlands offer from carbon storage and flood mitigation to supporting air quality and soil health.
“We’ve used a combination of buying land and partnerships with private and public landowners, who have leased their land to Forestry England for woodland creation. We’ve been planting trees from Northumberland and Cumbria to Norfolk and Devon and we’ve carefully planned each site to create high-quality, resilient woodlands, using the right mix of tree species for each. We’ve engaged with the local communities living near each of these woodlands to share our plans and hear their views and are excited the final one of our 1.8 million trees is now safely in the ground at Clipsham Wood, which straddles the border of Rutland and Leicestershire.”
Over the next twelve months, Forestry England is planning to plant seven more woodlands, also funded through the Nature for Climate Fund. Looking ahead, Forestry England hopes to continue expanding the nation’s forests between 2026 and 2030 to continue delivering the many benefits the nation’s forests provide, subject to future funding.