Trees for climate funding

The Council’s Total Environment Team and The Mersey Forest is encouraging land owners, managers of open spaces and community groups to come forward if they have any green space available which would be suitable for tree planting or woodland creation.

Funding is available for tree planting projects as part of the Trees for Climate Programme, to create the woodlands of the future and to help offset carbon emissions. Grants are available for purchasing trees, their planting and includes advice for ongoing tree care and maintenance. Native saplings will be planted across the borough not only to capture carbon, but also to create new wildlife habitats supporting biodiversity.

There are a number of funding streams for tree related projects, both large and small, open for applications such as Trees for Climate, Trees for Learning, Forest Schools and Northern Forests.

Large scale woodland creation proposals are encouraged, but there is also funding for small sized schemes. Larger projects will come with additional support for longer term maintenance and are accompanied by a management plan (subject to size and costs).

The Council’s Total Environment Team has just completed their Year One programme, which has resulted in just under 15 hectares of new woodland being created including three new community orchards. This is equivalent to over 562 tennis courts. New woodlands have been planted at Saxons Lane open space in Northwich and agricultural land in Picton owned by Cheshire West and Chester Council. Community orchards have also been created at Mill Community Farm in Ellesmere Port and within open spaces managed by Cotebrook and Hartford Parish Councils.

The team is now looking to identify sites for the next planting round, which will take place in winter 2021. The Council’s Total Environment Team are working with The Mersey Forest to deliver an ambitious five-year woodland creation programme, of which four planting seasons remain. This will create many more thousands of square meters of new woodland across the borough by 2025, helping towards the Council’s target to be carbon neutral as an organisation by 2030 and as a borough by 2045.

For more information please contact The Mersey Forest.