Policy GESP35: Woodland Creation
To accord with the advice of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), 10,000 hectares of new woodland will be created within the GESP area by 2040.
The Councils will seek to encourage or deliver appropriate woodland creation in areas identified in Figure 9.1 as offering the highest opportunity to expand and connect existing woodland. Development proposals located within these areas of higher priority will maximise opportunities to undertake woodland creation.
9.7 Trees provide an enormous multifunctional benefit to people and wildlife, helping to improve our health, providing biodiversity habitats and recreational opportunities, preventing flooding and improving air and water
9.8 Approximately 5% of the GESP area is currently covered by recognised woodland (National Woodland Inventory), which equates to approximately 27,000 hectares. This is broadly consistent with the national average for England of 13% coverage, which is three times lower than the European average of 37% and makes the UK one of the least wooded countries in the continent.
9.9 Only 1,420 hectares of trees were planted in England in the year to March 2019, 71% short of the government’s target of 5,000 hectares in the
9.10 The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has recommended that 30,000 hectares of woodland be created across the UK every year to take the national average from 13% land coverage to 17%– the equivalent of 5 billion new trees.
9.11 Should this 17% target be applied to the Greater Exeter area, this would equate to the delivery of a total of 10,000 hectares of new Given that trees are generally most efficient at capturing carbon between the years 20 – 50 following planting it would be necessary to “front-load” delivery of these into the earlier stages of the plan period. A new native woodland can capture 300-400 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per hectare (tCO2e/ha) by year 50, and 400-500tCO2e/ha by year 100 (Forestry Commission).
9.12 Whilst the majority of tree planting is considered to be permitted development, given the urgency of tackling climate change reflected in each Greater Exeter council’s climate emergency declarations it is considered important to provide an overarching strategy which targeted the areas in which woodland creation would be most beneficial, and to provide a target by which the scale of new treed areas can be highlighted and monitored against. The biodiversity net gain requirement set out in draft policy GESP35 (and included in the Environment Bill) has the potential to be an important mechanism for woodland
9.13 Councils, developers and landowners alike will play an active role of the delivery of these targets through direct delivery, in particular the incorporation of woodland creation on agricultural land and in areas of open and recreational spaces within and outside development proposals.
9.14 However, given the scale of the task, it is improbable that existing incentives will create the environment necessary to be able to deliver the targeted scale of woodland creation and therefore the Greater Exeter councils will likely need to play an active role, considering opportunities to purchase or repurpose existing owned land for the delivery of new woodland areas alongside partnerships with bodies such as the Woodland Trust and the Forestry Commission.
9.15 Given the high up-front costs of purchasing land, advantage will need to be taken of regular and one-off finance streams, including the Woodland Carbon Fund and Woodland Creation Grant which can provide both one-off payments and a regular funding steam into the future. As the need to decarbonise to meet climate targets becomes more acute, it is expected that further funding streams will be made available, including those expected to be introduced in the upcoming Environment Bill. The use of biodiversity net gain payments is another potential source of funding.
9.16 Figure 9.1 shows the woodland creation priority areas based on the existing woodland in the Greater Exeter area. Higher numbers/darker colours indicate greater opportunities to expand and connect existing woodland based on Lawton principles to deliver “more, bigger, better and joined” ecological networks to maximise biodiversity gain. Woodland creation opportunity mapping is a factor being incorporated into work on biodiversity net gain Local Nature Recovery Networks, to ensure draft policy GESP34 and GESP35 maximise opportunities to dovetail. All new areas of woodland should accord with the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS). In summary, the figure focuses priority for woodland creation:
- Adjacent existing woodland, particularly higher biodiversity woodland and where separate areas of woodland can be connected
- On lower grade agricultural land
- Along river and stream corridors