England’s Community Forests (ECF) and Cheshire West and Chester Council recently hosted Mary Creagh, MP, at several woodland sites in The Mersey Forest.
Mary Creagh was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in July and has responsibility for tree planting and forestry and domestic biodiversity, among many others.
Minister Creagh joined Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council and Paul Nolan, Chair of England’s Community Forests and Director of The Mersey Forest, alongside other key partners, to hear about the work of ECF and their partners and see the difference that woodland and access to nature can make to an area. The first visit of the day was to Hooks Wood, a community woodland on the outskirts of Chester, seeing first-hand how partnership working with local communities can deliver a range of benefits for people and nature.
Cheshire West and Chester Council is the host authority for Trees for Climate, a national multi-million pound tree planting programme that is playing a significant role in delivering the government’s tree planting targets and the country’s net zero ambitions. The funding has supported many tree planting projects in The Mersey Forest over the last four years, including those visited by the minister.
Together, England’s 15 Community Forests have created 4,000 hectares of new woodland through the programme and over 23,000 tonnes of carbon per year will be sequestered by the trees that have been planted on average when fully established.
Showing the minister a planting site overlooking the industrial area of Ellesmere Port, Paul Nolan, Director of The Mersey Forest, said: “England’s Community Forests have years of experience establishing woodlands in areas where the need is greatest. Historically we work around some of the country’s largest towns and cities, where tree cover is lower than the national average, providing more people with access to nature and improving the places where we live, work and do business.
“Woodlands and trees can be incorporated in both urban and rural communities to great effect, and it’s been fantastic to show the minister how, through successful partnerships, we are delivering 35% of all woodland planting in England.”
Minister Creagh finished her tour with a visit to a newly planted woodland at Chester Zoo, where The Mersey Forest has supported the zoo to create a vast new area of woodland on their land in Chester spanning almost 10 hectares. Almost 19,000 trees were planted last planting season, transforming a low-biodiversity silage field into a huge new sanctuary for UK wildlife.
Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, said: “We’re pleased to be playing such an important role supporting a woodland creation programme of national importance. Cheshire West and Chester Council is committed to playing our part in helping the region and country to meet its net zero targets and to address the nature crisis. We’ve made significant progress in reducing carbon emissions in the borough, achieving a 20.4% year-on-year drop in emissions in 2022, the highest of any UK local authority. Tree planting continues to play a significant role in our plans locally to address the climate and nature emergencies and we look forward to working alongside our partners and Defra over the coming planting seasons, supporting the 15 Community Forests as they increase tree cover in their areas.”
Alongside delivering woodland creation projects, England’s 15 Community Forests are delivering a range of health, education and climate adaptation projects, helping to strengthen biodiversity and habitat connectivity whilst supporting our communities with well-being programmes and green skills.
Each Community Forest is in the process of developing a Forest Plan which will set out how Forests will deliver for people, nature and a thriving economy.
