Welcome step for Great Northumberland Forest
04 May 2020 ARCHIVED (over 3 months old) - view latest news
Click here to find out more about the Great Northumberland Forest
Northumberland County Council has welcomed an important step in the creation of a Great Northumberland Forest.
Last autumn the Government unveiled plans to create the Great Northumberland Forest as part of a package of measures to lead to a carbon-neutral UK by 2050.
The first stage of this ambition to increase woodland cover in Northumberland is for three new public forests covering up to 500 hectares.
Forestry England has already started planting Rushy Knowe, a new 145 hectare woodland on the shore of Kielder Water, and this week has announced the purchase of 100 hectares of land at Monkridge, West Woodburn.
Buying this land means Forestry England will create the second of three forests, which will all help to reduce CO2, increase the provision of green space for recreation and provide the nucleus for new forestry and timber industry
Cllr Peter Jackson, leader of Northumberland County Council said: “I warmly welcome this important step by our partners Forestry England towards the creation of a Great Northumberland Forest.
“We, as a Council, are working hard to put in place the associated Partnership of local stakeholders that will help promote and coordinate an expansive and accelerated programme of appropriate planting across the county. This will be done in a way that ensures that the right tree is planted in the right way for the right reason.”
Through the Great Northumberland Forest it is intended that up to one million trees will be planted across 500 hectares of land in Northumberland between 2020 and 2024.
Click here to find out more about the Great Northumberland Forest