Over 100 hectares of new woodland planted across Merseyside and Cheshire

The Mersey Forest is celebrating a successful planting season, which takes place from November to March, with 100 hectares (ha) of new woodland planted across Merseyside and Cheshire.

The increase in tree cover is the equivalent of around 140 football pitches and will bring many benefits for local communities, providing more people with access to nature, helping to improve people’s health and wellbeing and providing a store for carbon, helping to tackle climate change.

This planting is part of a national programme that can provide grants that cover up to 100% of tree planting costs and 15 years of maintenance payments.

One of 13 Community Forests across England, The Mersey Forest is working closely with communities, landowners and businesses to plant trees and improve the natural environment across the area.

The new planting schemes have been made possible through the work of the Government’s England Trees Action Plan and are funded through the Trees for Climate programme and Northern Forest, which are both supported through Government’s Nature for Climate Fund.

With years of experience and locally based support, the Mersey Forest team help landowners and partners across the area to plan, fund and deliver woodland creation projects of all sizes on a range of land types - from farms and private estates to parks and community spaces.  

In Wirral, Trees for Climate funding was used to plant more than 2,700 trees at Poulton Recreation Ground, Bebbington this year. Over 200 people turned up to help plant a mixture of broadleaf trees on the site owned by Wirral Council. The trees will complement the existing woodland in the area and attract local wildlife as they grow.

One of the largest sites planted this year was on land owned by Cheshire East Council in Crewe. The 7ha ex-farmland site was planted with the help of the Green Task Force, a charity that uses nature-based activities to provide positive pathways for veterans through recovery, training and employment and will become a long-term carbon store.

Paul Nolan, Director of The Mersey Forest, said: “Over the past two years we’ve worked closely with local authorities, partners and a huge range of landowners in the area to establish more than 140 ha of new woodland. We’re looking forward to supporting more partners and landowners to develop new woodlands over the coming months and years’ and help the area and country reach our net zero goal.”

All trees planted in Merseyside and Cheshire are helping to grow The Mersey Forest and the larger Northern Forest, which stretches from Liverpool to the Yorkshire coast.

Any landowners, farmers or organisations with land suitable for tree planting and interested in getting involved in the next phase of planting can contact The Mersey Forest team by calling: 01925 816217 or emailing: mail@merseyforest.org.uk

The Trees for Climate Programme is helping the UK's efforts to reach net zero whilst also helping to reduce flood risk, increase sustainable UK grown timber, provide more places for nature and biodiversity to thrive, and increase people's access to and enjoyment of woodland.

The funding will also create new jobs and secure existing ones within the forestry and environmental sector, helping to boost local economies as part of a green recovery.

About the Nature for Climate Fund

Trees are at the forefront of the Government’s plans to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, to help to bend the curve of biodiversity loss and to create thousands of green jobs while better connecting people with nature to improve health and wellbeing as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The England Trees Action Plan committed to treble tree planting rates in England by the end of this Parliament, supported by more than £750 million through the Nature for Climate Fund to be spent by 2025 on peat restoration, woodland creation and management – above and beyond what was promised in the manifesto. It is a once-in-a-generation plan to help achieve this vision.

About the Mersey Forest

The Mersey Forest is a growing network of woodlands and green spaces spread across Cheshire and Merseyside, which has been creating 'woodlands on your doorstep' for 30 years.

The Forest is one of the leading environmental regeneration initiatives in the North West. Through community and partnership working, we have planted over 9 million trees - equivalent to five new trees for every person living within the Forest area.

The Forest helps our towns and cities adapt to climate change; creates woodlands that 20% of local people visit at least once a week and helps improve the image of our towns and cities.

We achieve all of this and more through our partnership of Local Authorities, landowners, the Forestry Commission, Natural England, the Environment Agency and businesses.

http://www.merseyforest.org.uk

About the Northern Forest

The Northern Forest has already established over 3.5 million new trees since 2018 and is helping to transform the landscape from coast to coast and in and around cities such as Liverpool, Chester, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, York and Hull. 

A partnership between the Woodland Trust and four of England’s Community Forests: City of Trees, Mersey Forest, Humber Forest and White Rose Forest, as well as the Community Forest Trust (collectively the Northern Forest Partnership) are delivering this ambitious project. The partnership aims to increase woodland across the Northern Forest area in order to connect people with nature, create growth and investment opportunities, reduce climate change and flood risk, improve health and wellbeing, support the rural economy and develop innovative funding mechanisms for the future.

The Northern Forest covers an area of 13 million people and has 7.6% woodland cover - well below Europe’s average. Across England, only 10% of our land area is covered by woodland. In Scotland that stands at 18%, and in France, Germany and Spain it is 31%, 33% and 37% respectively.

Pictured - Member of the Green Task Force planting a tree at Leighton Grange.