A quarter of a
million trees are set to be planted in a mass youth engagement project to
create the UK’s first Young People’s Forest.
The Woodland Trust
has teamed up with #iwill – a campaign set up to increase volunteering and
social action opportunities for young people – to offer a special opportunity
to youngsters across the Midlands and beyond.
The Trust is in the
process of acquiring a 162 hectare (400 acre) former coal mine site close to
Heanor in Derbyshire – known as Mead – which it plans to turn into a
forest.
The site provides
the perfect opportunity to engage young people in a mass scale and over the
coming months it is hoped young people will take a starring role in shaping its
future.
Project chief Carol
Honeybun-Kelly of the Woodland Trust said: “This is a really
exciting opportunity as it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired land expressly
for youth engagement. We want to make a really concerted effort to ensure young
people feel this new wood is for them. If young people see themselves having an
impact here, it will give them confidence to think they can change things in
their own lives and beyond.”
To make it happen,
the Trust has received support from the Pears #iwill Fund, a joint investment
from Pears Foundation, the Big Lottery Fund and the Department for Digital,
Culture, Media and Sport – to support young people to take part in meaningful
social action. The #iwill Fund supports the aims of the #iwill campaign. The
Veolia Environment Trust has also supported the project with funding.
With around £500,000
already in the bag to help the Trust buy the first quarter of the site, #iwill
experts will now lay on advice and mentorship as youngsters are given the
opportunity to plant and volunteer.
Charlotte Hill is
chief executive of the charity behind #iwill and sees great things on the
horizon: “It’s super that we are able to harness such an unusual site. It’s
equidistant between Nottingham and Derby, and a million people live within a
20-minute drive. And it feels powerful to have a really inspiring project for
young people embedded in the community.”
Two outreach
officers will soon be recruited, with a brief to connect Mead with schools and
existing youth projects, as well as probation and young offenders’ programmes.
Carol reckons the
first of 250,000 saplings will be ready to plant from next autumn, with
youngsters wielding the shovels – and she wants to involve them at every level
of conservation.
“Young people
themselves should be driving the decisions here, but I would love this to be a
place where all kinds of things can happen,” she added, “career training,
practical workshops, bushcraft sessions, music festivals. The potential is
terrific.”
The land sits in a
fantastic position; south of Heanor and adjacent to the very popular Shipley
Country Park, which itself is near to the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Woodside
Farm. Together, these three areas would make more than 500 hectares (nearly 1,300
acres) of connected, wildlife friendly space for people to enjoy.
One such school
already engaged in the project is Mapperley C of E School, which has achieved
gold status in the Woodland Trust’s Green Tree Schools Award and has planted
free trees provided by the Woodland Trust on nearby land.
The Trust will need
to raise almost £5 million more to turn the site into a community powerhouse.
The site, currently
owned by the Howarth Group, already boasts a wealth of paths and bridleways
which will be retained.
