New Defra partnership with Forest for Cornwall

Defra and Forest for Cornwall have joined forces to form an innovative new National Woodland Creation Partnership pilot to drive regional tree planting. 

Forestry Minister Lord Goldsmith has announced that this new partnership will be supported through an initial £120,000 uplift from the Nature for Climate Fund.

Following on from the successful Northumberland Forest Partnership announced by the Environment Secretary in 2019, the government is backing this Cornwall Council-led woodland creation partnership to help identify sites in Cornwall for woodland creation and bring local stakeholders on board. 

The ambition of Forest for Cornwall, set out and led by Cornwall Council as a key part of it’s Carbon Neutral Action Plan, is to ensure that the woodlands created are best suited for the needs of communities in Cornwall. A mix of targeted tree and woodland planting will be carried out to achieve this, including: planting trees to provide shade in urban areas to help counter the high rates of skin cancer shown in the county; planting trees in areas of high deprivation to provide well-being benefits for local communities; enabling economic benefits for the county by developing well-designed woodlands of scale to encourage visitors; and planting woodlands to enhance nature’s recovery and flood mitigation.

The announcement highlights the essential role that local authorities and their partners have to play in achieving the government’s ambition to increase tree planting rates to 30,000 hectares per year across the UK by 2025. To meet this ambition, a locally led approach to tree and woodland creation is needed, and local partners are in a unique position to inform the delivery of tree planting on the ground. 

In 2019 Cornwall Council issued a climate emergency and has set the ambitious target of being carbon neutral by 2030. As it grows the Forest for Cornwall will help us towards reaching that goal and help us create a better, greener future for the next generation.

Forestry Minister Lord Goldsmith said: "This exciting new partnership in Cornwall emphasises the importance of working together and using a locally-led approach to help build back greener. I am pleased to announce that through the government’s Nature for Climate Fund, trees will be planted where they are most needed, allowing more communities in Cornwall to have access to nature and in turn, to experience real benefits for health and well-being."

Edwina Hannaford, portfolio holder for Neighbourhoods and Climate Change at Cornwall Council, said: "We are delighted that Defra is supporting our Forest for Cornwall Programme. As part of our commitment to tackle climate change, we are working with partners to appropriately plant hundreds of thousands of trees in our beautiful county. This funding will enable us to support more landowners and land managers who want to plant trees in different areas."