I’ve been working on a plan, recently, to get some more trees in the ground. Nothing new there to anyone who has visited this blog before, but I thought it was time for an update.

 

I chair the Northwest Forestry Framework (soon to change it’s name to something more in keeping with the political zeitgeist, but more on that another time) and have been working with a whole host of people, both in the Northwest but also in the national offices of the Forestry Commission, to put forward several areas in the Northwest as possible pilot areas for a major national push on woodland creation.

 

As an area of England with a level of woodland cover well below the national average, there is scope and opportunity for large scale tree planting and development right across Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside. When you look at the statistics, we are poorly served in these areas when it comes to woodlands.

 

The good news is that each of these areas has also developed clever and canny new models for woodland creation that deliver multiple benefits and move beyond traditional public sector investment models towards partnerships with business and the voluntary sector.

 

It’s all very, ‘Big Society’.

 

Now these areas are signing up to a ‘forestry manifesto’ that I’ve been touting around the region since the start of the year. This manifesto seeks, over 40 years, to deliver a doubling in woodland cover, to have an immediate and significant impact on carbon stores, timber production, environmental resilience, green jobs, local image and happiness and wellbeing; this is a vision of an intensely productive, as well as beautiful, landscape.

 

Show me the money

 

It all sounds very motherhood and apple pie, but who is going to pay? There are a number of existing or planned investment models across the Northwest which warrant further development and replication elsewhere. These include:

 

• Woodland planting as a key aspect of PFI (Public Finance Initiative) contracts and, specifically, waste management strategies;

 

• Working with large-scale developers to create an attractive setting for investment and adding value to land-based asset portfolios;

 

• Practical business partnerships providing improved local area ‘image’, biomass resources or climate change adaptation;

 

• Woodland or green infrastructure bonds, where investors can support woodland creation by investing in a bond that provides non-fiscal benefits in lieu of interest payments as part of a CSR or sustainability strategy;

 

• Developing a suite of woodland creation opportunities alongside community interest levies/section 106 arrangements where developers support environmental works as a condition of their planning consents; and

 

• Integrated land use planning to maintain and improve water quality.

 

• Landscape-scale, economically-linked programmes to aid recovery and local economic resilience.

 

Some of the above options sound a little jargon laden, but they have the potential to help us get some trees in the ground, and that’s what I care about. Each of these investment models is either already in play across one of our counties or city regions, or is ready to be developed by one or more partners.

 

Breaking down barriers

 

From the discussions we’ve been having so far, these partners are ready to start delivering woodland creation, on the ground, if certain barriers to progress can be removed. These barriers include:

 

• The ‘Hope value’ attached to under-utilised land and the misplaced notion that new woodlands permanently remove large areas from possible future development;

 

• More flexible, short to medium term land use deals and frameworks that will allow the notion of ‘temporary’ woodland to be pursued;

 

• Clear signals on the future of carbon pricing and accounting in relation to woodland creation;

 

• The lack of a mechanism for business to report on the carbon benefits of woodland creation programmes as part of their net greenhouse gas emissions; and

 

• The consideration of effective tax regimes to encourage investment in new planting in areas of need as a way for business to play a part in ‘big society’ programmes.

 

Making it happen

 

So the exciting thing is that if we bash down a few barriers, win over some hearts and minds, and pull our fingers out, the partners in the Northwest Forestry Forum are ready to begin work piloting a new wave of woodland creation using innovative funding and delivery models such as these.

 

More trees, in the ground, delivering a huge range of benefits.

 

And the track record for delivery across the region is solid and impressive, with the Community Forests (e.g. Mersey Forest and Red Rose Forest) having already planted 12 million trees and millions more having been planted through the Forestry Commission’s Capital Modernisation Fund and Newlands programme.

 

Here are some more tangible examples of where can start planting.

 

Real life example - Mersey Belt

 

There is an immediate opportunity for an ‘Adapting the Landscape’ pilot across what has been coined the ‘Atlantic Gateway’, connecting the twin city regions of Greater Manchester and Merseyside with the Northern areas of Cheshire.

 

Such a pilot would be focused on woodland creation in and around key physical development sites and along transport corridors; on productive forestry including biomass; on leisure, recreation and the ‘visitor economy’.

 

Funding can be drawn from business through receipts from soils deposition, community interest levies, Section 106 agreements, through an easing of planning constraints if the creation of greenspace is assured and possible short-term amnesties against business tax.

 

Delivery partners would include large development businesses in the area, as well as the key Local Enterprise Partnerships and the voluntary sector in the form of community forests and Groundwork.

 

Real life example - Lancashire

 

In Lancashire there is already an innovative model for woodland creation in the form of the county’s ‘Woodlands from Waste’ programme linked to a soon to be commissioned, 25 year, £2 billion Waste PFI.

 

A partnership of Lancashire County Council, 13 Local Authorities and their commercial contractor, Global Renewables, alongside the Forestry Commission, will be planting and managing 100,000 new trees per year for the next 25 years - creating woodland on brown and greenfield sites across the area. The cost is being met through savings on landfill taxes and, in addition, is utilising a growing medium by-product of the waste treatment process.

 

Real life example - Cumbria and Lancashire

 

Water company United Utilities has pioneered a programme called the Sustainable Catchment Management Programme (SCaMP), working with farmers and land managers, local authorities, Government and other conservation organisations to influence how water catchment areas are managed and properly funded. The objective is a double win of improved water quality (under the European Water Framework Directive) as well as conservation of the natural environment. UU’s partner in the programme has been the RSPB.

 

The project has leveraged in public funding to help deliver an increase in clough woodland, with 450 hectares of upland oak woodland to be planted, some 300,000 trees being planted and 200km of fencing to allow for moorland restoration and woodland planting. It has carried out the work in two of its four estate areas: Bowland in Lancashire, and the Southern estate including Longdendale, the Goyt and parts of the Peak District.

 

Meeting Defra’s priorities

 

It may sound a bit arcane, but in the absence of any major eco bills or statements, there are still some clear signals as to what the new government’s priorities are, not least in the departmental ‘Structural Reform Plans’ which have beenpublished. How does the above outlined activity ‘fit’ with the three key priorities outlined in Defra’s structural reform plan?

 

The woodland creation opportunities highlighted can directly contribute to and foreshorten the delivery of each priority and relevant actions and milestones. Specifically:

 

Support and develop British farming and encourage sustainable food production

 

Defra’s objective is to enhance the competitiveness and resilience of the whole food chain, including farms and the fish industry, to ensure a secure, environmentally sustainable and healthy supply of food with improved standards of animal welfare.

 

Woodland creation can contribute to this objective in a number of ways. It will provide affordable measures of support for hill farmers via diversifying farm incomes e.g. through timber sales and reduced energy cost savings through woodfuel.

 

It will also help with animal husbandry, particularly in the uplands, primarily through the provision of shelter. Woodland creation will also lead to more sustainable, integrated land use where for example, higher value agricultural land holdings can be protected through woodland creation ‘upstream’ stablising soils and alleviating flooding.

 

Biodiversity and landscape

 

Defra’s objective is to enhance and protect the natural environment, including biodiversity and the marine environment, by reducing pollution and preventing habitat loss and degradation.

 

A pilot of new woodland creation in the Mersey Belt, Cumbria or Lancashire will contribute to this in a number of ways.

 

It will deliver more green spaces for local communities, new native habitats and wildlife corridors needed to help wildlife adapt to expected climate change impacts. It will help stabilise soils, improve water quality and reclaim damaged, brownfield land. In addition there will be increased tree planting by private sector and civic societies.

 

Support a strong and sustainable green economy, resilient to climate change

 

Defra’s objective is to encourage businesses, people and communities to manage and use natural resources in a sustainable manner and to reduce waste; and work to ensure that the UK economy is resilient to climate change.

 

A woodland creation pilot will directly address this objective, as the approaches above show, it can directly provide a source of carbon storage and can be deployed in partnership with the private sector.

 

Next steps

 

As you might imagine, I’m dead keen to play these arguments out to national players - especially Defra - but also to the emerging Local Economic Partnerships which have been causing such a stir in local politics over the last few weeks.

 

In addition, this proposal will be the centrepiece of our next meeting of the Forestry Forum on November 8 of this year; if you want to come along, just let me know. We need every bit of help we can get to achieve that goal we’ve set for ourselves - a doubling of woodland cover.

 

To view the Manifesto presentation online, please click here  (You can also download the presentation from this link too.)

 

 

 

 

The Regional Forestry Forum this year will take place on 15th October 2009, 2 – 4:30 pm

It will be held in Preston at The Gujarat Hindu Society Centre,South Meadow Lane,Preston,PR1 8JN

The Forum is of particular importance this year as we will refresh the current delivery plan and look to embed Forestry, in its widest sense, into the developing integrated regional strategy, RS2010. We will also assess progress on the current delivery plan and identify the key issues/opportunities for the sector.

The programme for the Forum meeting will follow but we hope that you will pencil this important meeting into your diaries and register your interest in attending the event through the link below.

We look forward to your involvement in continuing to develop the role of the Forestry sector in the North West.   Apologies for any cross-postings.

Location details:   http://www.ghsenterprise.co.uk/contact_ghs_centre.html

Click on the link to register:   http://www.doodle.com/8ezduam9s87a2bup

The Regional Forestry Framework has been working with HMP Haverigg to develop a programme of training and environmental work for prisoners, which is already boosting confidence, increasing skills and improving long term prospects.

A partnership between HMP Haverigg, the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, Natural England, Uclan and the Forestry Commission has pioneered a new programme of training, to get prisoners out into their local environment and contributing to the community, whilst taking the first step towards long term rehabilitation.

A small group of prisoners (who were rigorously selected) undertook six one-hour accredited training sessions with BTCV, learning skills such as dry stone walling, footpath construction and tree planting.  The work was formulated to provide prisoners with usable and transferable skills, vital if they are to improve their employment prospects once out of prison.  The work also gain the men a clear boost in confidence and self esteem and it reduced stress levels.  Importantly, it also helped to build bridges between the prison and the local community.

Following the success of the HMP Haverigg work, the project has been extended to become part of the Target Wellbeing Pan Regional Prison Programme  Greener on the Outside scheme.

http://www.uclan.ac.uk/health/schools/sphcs/prisons_programme.php

The Forestry Commission is currently working with the  University of Central Lancashire, the prison service and other partners across the Northwest, to create opportunities for offenders to work in the natural environment.

Work can range from dry stone walling to tree planting and footpath construction, and much of the activity is carried out in the region’s woodlands and nature reserves.

Through involvement in the ‘Greener on the Outside’ project, offenders have reported being ‘less stressed’ and ‘happier’, leading to improved staff / prisoner relationships.  As importantly, evaluation work carried out by the Healthy Settings Unit at Uclan has discovered that long term outcomes of the project include improved employability prospects for prisoners after they leave prison, and an improved attitude to training and skills development.

Initial work has focused on activity with Haverigg prison in Cumbria (BTCV working as the  training delivery agent  on Forestry Commission and Natural England sites).  This trial has led to  partners  taking the Greener on the Outside activity to a larger number of prisons through the Groundwork Target: Wellbeing scheme.

Forest Schools (FS) offer children, young people and adults a hands-on learning experience in a local woodland environment, benefiting participants’ health, confidence, physical development and knowledge of the natural world.

All the Northwest Regional Forestry Framework’s partners are keen to embed the FS ethos within the region’s education authorities, through a series of short-term objectives as well as by establishing a network of interested parties to share knowledge and experiences.

The NW Cluster is currently compiling a database of FS trained practitioners, and are looking for recommendations for the list. For details of what is required to become a FS Leader or how to train to become one, visit http://www.foresteducation.org/forest_schools.php?page=6

In addition, funding received by the NW Cluster from the Forest Education Initiative for four FS taster days has started the process of promoting the FS programme far and wide.  The first taster day took place in November (excellent feedback has spurred the cluster on even further). Another three taster days are planned, with the first one being held in Bolton. To register your interest, please contact Liz at ewebley@lancswt.org.uk

To join the debate about Forest Schools on the iwood blog about the Forest Schools agenda, please view the other stories in the Action Area Four thread.

www.foresteducation.org.uk

Update from Regional Forestry Framework Forum

 Feedback from the Forum was generally very positive with 88% responding that the event was good or excellent

  

QUESTION

POOR

ADEQUATE

GOOD

EXCELLENT

There were also positive responses about people wanting to be involved in the future refresh of the Framework and hearing more about it. There was a large response of “don’t know” to the question about whether the Framework has made a difference - something that has to be addressed in the refresh.

 

YES

NO

DON’T KNOW

We had a Forest School workshop at the Regional Forestry Framework
Annual Forum and below are a few of the ideas we had on actions. Please
let us know if you agree or have more to add.

- We agreed current action in the RFF action plan (action number 30) was
valid and there is a role to be played by RFF partners at a strategic
regional level (in spite of FS being bottom up and locally led)

- LA’s - we agreed ultimate goal was to get FS mainstreamed by LA
Childcare services. This has happened in others areas of the country
such as Shropshire. I remembered after workshop that Rochdale maybe
already doing this in region. We agreed would be good to share any
learning about how this has been achieved. Evidence of benefits
(educational, health, personal development, physical co-ordination etc.)
does exist (FR report) but need to communicate the benefits of FS as a
learning environment. There are many barriers to schools participating
such as H&S, supervision, cover etc. The Learning Outside the Classroom
manifesto could help with funding such things as transport if have to
travel. Also potential links to new 6th form diplomas (land based).
Often FS start as solution for certain groups of people such as
exclusions, special needs and early years. A route in to LA’s can be to
offer opportunities for such groups.

- Promotion - agreed need to promote FS to schools/LA’s - NW Cluster is
running 4/5 taster sessions for teachers. See flier for first one
attached.

- Training - people are being trained and it would be useful to know who
they are. The NW Cluster are building a directory of trained FS folk
(name, contact details and level).

- Sites - there a few things which can help with finding sites. We all
agreed local sites close to school are the ideal. By Christmas the
accessible woodland directory will be available on RFF Iwood website
which could help to locate already accessible woodlands in local area,
although we know this isn’t necessarily same as access for FS and
records are incomplete. I will let you all know when this is available
and ask for your feedback on usefulness then. Also FC and other RFF
partners such as the woodland initiatives have good links with many
landowners and can often help. Also there are FC woodlands throughout
region which can be used as FS locations - it can be managed through our
permissions system. This experience could also be used to help other
landowners manage FS access.

- Improved access - the FC runs the English Woodland Grant scheme -
these grants support both woodland creation and management including
creating access. We will look at how we can either use our existing
Woodland Improvement Grant (WIG) access grant or create a specific FS
WIG as other regions in England have done. Our creation grant this year
included awarding regional points for creation of education access.

- Forest Education Initiative (FEI) - agreed important to liaise and
update FEI.

One area included in current action which we didn’t get time to discuss
are exploration of links to eco-schools and healthy schools so any
thoughts on this please let me know but I’m sure eco-schools will be
receptive to FS. We also touched briefly on school grounds as potential
locations for FS and I know Mersey Forest are targeting those they have
worked with on grounds or with CF sites close by for taster session.

At end of workshop I said I would try to set up an e-network of those
interested in FS’s, just so folk can email round information as and when
to keep others up-to-date with developments in the region. Please let me
know if you wish to be added to this list.

Penny

We have just finished a first version of a collection of Health and
Wellbeing Good Practice. We thought it would be useful to pull the wide
range of case studies and research together in one searchable web based
location. This is only a first version and we know it is only a start.
We would like you to help fill the gaps and provide further case
studies. Please also let us know if we’ve got anything wrong. Find the
Good Practice database on iwood - www.iwood.org.uk

Just to let you all know how things are progressing with Action Area 4 activity.

• Exciting work ongoing with Alder Hey hospital where we have been asked to be on the design panel for the new hospital. A real opportunity to make greenspace an integral part of healthcare for patients, staff, visitors and local people
• By the end of the March we should have completed Phase 1 of our accessible woodland mapping work - trying to add more detail to the existing Woods for People dataset and look at gaps in information and provision
• The regional targeting of the English Woodland Grant scheme is being reviewed for Prospectus 2008 and we hope to have some elements specifically targeted at woodland health schemes.
• We have started work on a Best Practice directory for health and access related work which will be hosted on iwood. We will need your help to contribute more case studies - watch out for an email in the next month or so
• The Healthy Weight Framework for the North West was launched this week (6th Feb) - the health RFF actions are in the action plan. 
• BTCV are currently running a training programme for Haverigg Prison as part of our ongoing environmental ‘working out’ skills and health project. Uclan are evaluating this scheme as initial work under the BIG Lottery wellbeing regional project.  
• I hope to look closer at Forest School activity in the region in the next couple of months - please get in touch if you are running Forest School in your area. Thanks!

A couple of years ago I added up all of the figures for tree planting across England’s Northwest. The statistics were drawn from the preceding five years and were made up of contributions from our Community Forests, local authorities, Forestry Commission, Northwest Regional Development Agency and Groundwork, to name just a few of the key players.

The bottom line, once the sums had been totted up, was a new tree being planted every ten seconds in this great region of ours. An impressive figure. A ‘killer stat’ to be proud of.

What I didn’t factor in, of course, was whether de facto levels of tree cover were going up or down, whether our ancient trees were being adequately protected or whether our support for new woodland areas was resulting in an increase or decrease in rates of tree planting.

These are some of the trickier issues that our Delivery Group has started to grapple with on behalf of the wider Northwest Forestry Framework community and in 2008 we’d like to report back to you on the progress we’re making, particularly on measuring levels of urban tree cover across the region. We believe that our urban spaces should be greener than ever, with all the climatic, civic and marketing advantages that green space delivers, and we’d like to get a handle on how we’re doing.

As my colleagues have set out elsewhere on this Blog, we’ve been making progress on working with industry, supporting the land reclamation sector, boosting the prospects for biomass and developing new, pioneering partnerships such as those with the health service or prison sectors.

Across the region, those working for woodlands and forestry have ensured in 2007 that we are successfully delivering against all of the major actions in our action plan or have instigated work to make sure that they’re tackled in 2008. Of the 47 actions in our plan, 43 are underway.

So I’m pleased to say that from my perspective we’ve hit a good number of our targets and are more than aware of those we need to focus on in the year ahead. We’re not resting on our laurels and we know there’s a lot to be done, but during our first full year of operation, the Northwest Forestry Framework has made real progress against our ‘Agenda for Growth’. What out for more of the same in 2008.