A cash injection of more than £1million will enable 105 hectares of new woodland to be planted in the Peak District.

The Woodland Trust will help the Peak District National Park Authority meet its target of planting 400 hectares of woodland by 2024/25 by providing £913,500 for materials and £189,000 for staff.

Speaking in a meeting of the Programmes and Resources Committee last Friday (21 January), Natural Environment and Rural Economy Team Manager Rhodri Thomas explained that the scheme was effectively an ‘upgrade’ on an existing project with the trust, which has been running for six years.

He said: “The key differences between the existing project and this proposal are three-fold.

“So first of all, to date the authority has been funding some of the staff time going into the project.

“The proposal would be that the Woodland Trust would fund the staffing elements of that so it would be national park authority led but with the Woodland Trust providing that staff funding.”  

Mr Thomas continued: “The second difference is that the targets are up, so to date we’ve delivered 15 hectares per year through the existing project and with that additional staff resource we are looking to just over double that in terms of the targets for woodland creation.

“The third key element between the existing proposal and the project is that to date the Woodland Trust has been providing the materials – the trees and the guards and the stakes.

“That would now be down to the authority to source those.”

The staff funding would be spread over the next four financial years as follows – £5,400 until April this year and £61,200 a year for the next three years.

Members of the committee approved receipt of the funding.

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