£101,000 grant helps maintain vital woodlands across the UK

The Land Trust has completed important improvements across eight of its key parks thanks to a £101,000 Woodland Improvement Grant.

The funding was secured in 2014 from the English Woodland Grant Scheme, which seeks to improve areas of woodland to deliver greater environmental and community benefits.  This is a grant administered by the Forestry Commission on behalf of DEFRA to ensure woodlands are sustainably managed and cared for.  The grants secured by the Land Trust come under The Woodland Improvement Grant,  (WIG) which funds capital investment in woodlands, over an agreed period to create, enhance and sustain an increase in the quantity and quality of public benefits delivered.

Below is a breakdown of the grants for each Land Trust park:

• Elba Park – £37,000
• Monkton – £23,000
• Shirebrook – £9,000
• Debden Park– £15,000
• Silverdale – £14,000
• Woodland planning grants £3,000 (Monkton, Phoenix & Cudworth)

The Land Trust, which manages nearly 2,000 hectares of parks and green spaces, has used this grant to improve interpretation and facilities at existing woodland sites and to develop plans for future woodlands at Elba Park and Monkton in the North East; Brook Park in Nottinghamshire, Phoenix Country Park and Cudworth Common in Yorkshire, Silverdale in the Midlands and Debden Park in Essex.

The Land Trust model is about long term funding to maintain public open spaces, however, as a charity, it is also able to apply for grants, to add even more value and create further benefits to these vital green spaces.

These improvements help to keep the woodlands in better condition, help their long term sustainability, and ensure that these green spaces are more accessible and enjoyed by the local communities that surround them.

Euan Hall, Chief Executive of the Land Trust, said: “The Land Trust s purpose is to manage green spaces in perpetuity, so that we can provide opportunities for people to keep healthy and active, join educational and social events and activities, help protect and enhance the environment, encouraging wildlife and add value to the local economy.

“The Woodland Grant Scheme has helped us to continue delivering these long term goals and is a vital source of funding towards our long term management of green open spaces; enabling people across the UK have access to these important open spaces.”