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New community forest explainer

A picture showing newly planted trees - PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS PARKES

The new Plymouth and South Devon Community Forest has been announced today, with the promise of thousands of new trees for the city and the surrounding communities.

The forest will stretch from the heart of the city to the edge of the moor, encompassing 1,900 hectares of land to form a mosaic of different forest habitats.

Quite simply, this is a massive, massive project and is expected to go on for at least 25 years. There are some big numbers being bandied about so here, we’ve broken it down to explain what it means for residents.

So, what is a Community Forest?

Well it’s not like a normal forest that is all in one place and has lots of the same types of trees and is planted and then harvested for timber.

No, the Plymouth and South Devon Community Forest will stretch across different parts of the city and surrounding countryside. It will be a mix of community woodland, private woodland, on street trees, urban woodland, wooded habitat corridors and hedgerows.

But the key thing is that it will be coordinated so that we get a mix of species and ensure that we get the right types of tree in the right type of place.   

So, how big is it?

Big. We’re currently looking at planting trees in a space of around 1,900 hectares. One hectare is officially 10,000 square metres or around 2.5 acres.

To put it into perspective, 1,900 hectares is around 3,750 football pitches.

How many trees will there be?

We can’t put an exact number on it yet but it’s tens of thousands. It’s a tree planting project like never seen before in Plymouth. Some will of course be outside the city boundary but for Plymouth, we’ll be increasing the number of trees (technical term ‘canopy cover’) buy around 20 per cent

A photo of a member of staff working on trees - photograph by Chris ParkesAnd how will it benefit Plymouth?

It will benefit Plymouth both economically, environmentally and through the health and wellbeing of our community.

There will eventually be jobs. Lots of jobs and crucially, jobs for young people. The plan is for 353 jobs over the first ten years with plenty of apprenticeships across a broad range of roles.

Environmentally, the extra trees will increase capture carbon/Co2 in the Plymouth area by 83% from current levels once full established helping us in our fight to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Lastly, the health benefits of the new green spaces are estimated to equate to around £5.7 million per year.  This is worked out from national health data and expected number of visits to the Forest each year.

What’s first?

The good news is that our work is being supported by the England Community Forest, Trees for Climate Programme, supported by Defra through the Nature for Climate Fund to plant the first 500 hectares in the first five years. We don’t know where this will be yet. That’s our next job.

Over the next few months, we’ll be running extensive consultation with residents and talking to landowners to see if they want to get involved.

Then we’ll start  by advertising the first of those 353 jobs we were talking about.

Great news about young people. How else will they be involved?

The idea is that young people will be at the heart of the design, implementation and management of the new Community Forest. We’ll be involving young people in the initial planning and then the idea is that as those young people grow into adulthood, so will the forest itself.

There will be plenty to do in all areas of the project, be that in governance, foest management or in the wide range of enterprise, training and skills opportunities that the forest will deliver.

We’re also keen for the Local Youth Parliament and Councils to play a drive role.

Are there other Community Forests?

Yes, there are ten, located in and around England’s largest towns and cities. They are managed by England Community Forests and supported by the the national charity The Community Forest Trust.

What’s next?

Planning. Loads of planning. Watch this space. As soon as we’ve got something else to show, tell or consult with residents about, we’ll be in touch.

We’ve set up a web page where you can keep track of any new developments but to find out more about community forests and what Plymouth could become, head to https://englandscommunityforests.org.uk/