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Gloucestershire Business News

More than 50,000 trees being planted on Cotswold estate

This winter, the National Trust and England's Community Forests are working in partnership to create around 519 hectares (1,282 acres) of new woodlands and woody habitats across England, equivalent in size to more than 800 football pitches.

Among the major tree planting schemes is one in Gloucestershire at Sherborne Farm on the Sherborne Park Estate, where the National Trust is working in partnership with a tenant to plant 53,000 trees.

Working with The Great Western Community Forest and funded by the Trees for Climate programme, the patchwork of new woodlands across the historic estate will bring back wildlife and create 'nature-friendly' farmland.

The ambitious series of national planting projects has been funded and supported by England's Community Forests' Trees for Climate programme, part of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs' (Defra) Nature for Climate Fund.

Thanks to £7.1 million in funding, a total of 20 planting projects will be completed on land across England, the majority of which is cared for by the conservation charity, with some of the largest in Gloucestershire, Devon, Yorkshire and Merseyside.

By the end of March, almost 416,000 trees will have been planted to establish new woodlands, wood pasture, hedgerows and orchards. These woody habitats will help mitigate climate change, provide homes for nature and accessible woods close to towns and cities for people and communities to enjoy.

England's Community Forests initiative started over three decades ago and it has been working in partnership with the National Trust since 2021. By the end of this spring, an impressive total of 693 hectares (1712 acres) of trees will have been planted on Trust land over the three years of the partnership, creating the equivalent of over 1,070 football pitches of vital woody habitats.

John Deakin, the National Trust head of trees and woodland, said: "We've found lots of natural synergy with the Community Forests in the way we approach woodland and tree establishment to give maximum value for people, nature and climate.

"Trees are our most powerful tool in locking up carbon and mitigating climate change. Working in partnership allows us to plant even more trees, restore more spaces for nature and store carbon on an even bigger scale.

"Meanwhile, with each new area of planting connecting with existing habitats plus extending the size of local Community Forest areas, we can ensure that more people have opportunities to connect with nature close to where they live, something we all need."

Paul Nolan, chair of England's Community Forests and director of The Mersey Forest, said: "We're really pleased to be working closely with the National Trust on woodland creation projects across the country. Our Trees for Climate programme aims to deliver 76,000 hectares of trees and woodland across England by 2026 and the projects we're supporting on National Trust sites will play a big part in this.

"Increasing tree cover in our communities is vital for our health and wellbeing and to help us adapt to our changing climate, which is becoming more and more challenging. Trees can help cool our towns and cities, help alleviate flooding, prevent soil erosion and cut pollution.

"Working alongside landowners and partners, such as the National Trust will help us to increase tree cover across Community Forest areas, boosting biodiversity, local economies and people's access to nature. We are looking forward to developing our joint work with the National Trust to help deliver the Community Forest Plans across the country."

The conservation charities' partnership with England's Community Forests directly contributes to its commitment to plant and establish 20 million trees by 2030. In addition to funding from England's Community Forests Trees for Climate programme through Defra's Nature for Climate Fund, some projects have received further donations from the National Trust's Plant a Tree fund and HSBC UK.

These planting projects are also part of a wider success story for all tree planting in England over the past year, the last planting season saw tree planting rates increase by 52 per cent from the previous year with 5,529 hectares of new woodland planted. This marks significant progress towards meeting the Environment Act target of achieving 16.5% tree and woodland cover in England by 2050.

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