Trust aims to restore woodland with £1.9m Lotto grant

The five-year scheme by the Woodland Trust aims to return post-war conifer plantations to their original native woodland state, restoring natural habitat which is home to more than 250 rare and threatened wildlife species.

Restoring ancient woodland involves gradually removing conifers from a plantation to allow more light to penetrate the canopy, encouraging specialist native species to grow back.

The project aims to restore as much as 52,000 hectares (almost 130,000 acres) of woodland, an area one third the size of London, in sites across the UK from the glens of Scotland to Exmoor.

The Heritage Lottery Fund announced the confirmed funding for the Woodland Trust scheme along with initial support for projects worth £16m at historic sites across the country.

Schemes for the Bristol Aerospace Centre, Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire, Grade II listed Victoria Pier in Colwyn Bay, Wales and Headstone Manor, the earliest surviving timber-framed building in Middlesex, have all been given backing.

The initial support means the heritage projects can push forward with developing full proposals for funding.

The £1.9m secured for restoring ancient woodland will go towards the total £2.9m cost of the project, with the Woodland Trust appealing for public donations to make up a £530,000 funding gap and the rest coming from partner organisations.

The scheme will see the Trust working with more than 1,000 landowners, offering information, advice and training to help them restore conifer woods to their natural woodland state.

Tim Hodges, woodland restoration programme manager, said: “The key to the project is the urgency. Many conifer plantations which have been planted since the Second World War are approaching maturity and due to be felled.

“By working with landowners now to begin restoring these woods there is a once in a lifetime opportunity to prevent these woods being restocked with a further round of conifers which could compound the damage already done to the wildlife that remains.

“We have a responsibility to restore our ancient woods and protect them for future generations.”

According to the Woodland Trust ancient woodland, defined as having been continuously wooded since at least 1600, covers just two per cent of the UK’s land area.

The HLF has given initial backing to a £4.4m project to conserve aviation heritage at Bristol Aerospace including a new hangar to house the last Concorde in the world to fly, and a £3m scheme to conserve one of the most significant sites of the Industrial Revolution at Quarry Bank Mill.

Initial support has also been given to a £3.6m bid to conserve Headstone Manor and convert it to the new home of Harrow’s historic and nationally important collections, and to a £5m project to restore Colwyn Bay’s Victoria Pier.