Plans to plant 1 million trees in Essex get underway

The Essex Forestry Initiative aims to plant 1 million trees in Essex to combat climate change due to carbon release from around the county.

Recently, Brentwood Borough Council hosted a meeting of 22 forestry officers from many Essex boroughs and the county council, Forestry Commission, Woodland Trust, Thames Chase and Hole Farm who were taken to Warley Country park and Clements Wood to look at how diseased Ash is being removed, techniques and replacement planting, watercourse management, Ash recovery from coppice and vegetation management in public land.

Discussion on site covered aspects of financing the works and how the disease itself progresses. At Hutton Country Park North where a battery storage site is located officers considered the various aspects of tree protection on development sites. At Weald Park the success and failure rates of new planting were surveyed together with a charity presentation by Andrews’ Market Field which assists planting regimes as part of its education programme for school levers with learning difficulties. This first in a series of onsite discussions highlights the potential effect of Ash Disease which the Forestry Commission believes will kill 98% of Ash trees in Britain.

Chair of Community Environment and Enforcement Commission, Cllr Will Russell said; “Brentwood and other authorities will be involved with trials of different ways to combat drought situations without watering moving forward and it is good to know that we are at the forefront of these plans and their development.

“Furthermore by building on our relationship with Andrews’ Market Field we plan to provide more opportunities for young people to work and learn new skills. Clearly, woodland management is a crucial aspect of climate change and carbon fixation. Brentwood has shown itself to be at the lead in local authority arboriculture and forestry within the county which is a strong base level from which we are able to build our sustainable future.”