Minutes:
Naomi Styles, Woodland Officer, gave a presentation to the Area Board. It was stated that due to the climate emergency the UK government had introduced targets which were detailed as:
· The UK needed 30,000 hectares of trees/yr over the next 30 years (2.25 billion trees assuming 1 tree sapling/4m sq, and
· National Parks and AONB’s must play a role in meeting this target whilst appreciating the need for sensitive planning.
· For Wiltshire, this target = 435 ha of woodland/yr for the next 30 years (>1 million trees / an area of woodland the size of Devizes each year)
· 40% of Wiltshire’s landscape = AONB, national park or historic sites
· Large-scale tree planting needed to be carefully considered and sensitively introduced
· Woodland planting 2ha> requires planning permission
Planting trees and woodland helped communities to engage in biodiversity and climate solutions; was beneficial for health, wellbeing, recreation and exercise; increased tree and woodland produce (such as fruits and nuts) and had the benefit of providing cleaner air.
It increased biodiversity by creating new habitat, reduced flood risk by slowing the flow of rainwater and stores carbon to combat climate change.
It also provided shelter and shade for livestock, improved soil quality, reduced nitrate and phosphate runoff, could diversify income generation (through timber, coppice, Christmas trees etc) and could generate carbon credits.
The Grant Application and Planting Support (GAPs) team provided support to Schools, Community Groups, Parish Councils, Farmers and Landowners in planting woodland, trees and hedgerows across Wiltshire and Swindon.
They:
· help people choose the right trees for their site
· identify funding options and complete surveys and application forms
· gave advice on planting, woodland design and aftercare.
· link people and groups together to get their project off the ground.
The officer then gave details on the Tree Warden Scheme, they were recruiting tree wardens across the county to:
· survey existing trees in their area
· identify new places to plant trees and local landowners who are keen to plant
· apply for funding for tree, hedgerow and woodland planting in their community.
This scheme was approved by the Tree Council and all training would be provided.
Funding options were listed as follows:
· Great Western Community Forest (Trees for Climate)
· Forestry England (EWCO)
· Woodland Trust
· Tree Council
· Urban Tree Challenge Fund
· Trees for Streets
· UK Community Tree planting
· Wessex Water
· National Highways.
The officer encouraged people to get in touch on GAPS@wiltshire.gov.uk if they:
· wanted to plant trees on parish or community land and don’t know where to start
· work at a school, business or other site where there is potential for trees, hedges or an orchard
· are a farmer or landowner and want more advice about tree, hedge or woodland planting
· want more information about becoming a tree warden.
It was also highlighted that to ensure Wiltshire met its tree planting targets, all trees being planted should be logged. So, if people were planting trees or woodland they were also encouraged to get in touch.
In response to a question on how to ensure the trees survived, it was explained that the team could provide advice, and could help people to come up with a maintenance schedule and ensure people knew what to expect.
Members highlighted that the Stonehenge Community Area was a difficult area with the heritage sites such as Stonehenge, military airfields where trees could not be planted and Salisbury Plain. So, it was hoped that places could be found to plant trees and woodland.