Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) has planted over 15,000 trees and shrubs to offset carbon from its operations and keep it on track to be carbon neutral by 2030.
It has now transformed 54 acres, or the equivalent of 30 football pitches, of land in Upper Broughton to create Rushcliffe Woods, offsetting over 230 tonnes of carbon a year.
Partners met to see progress on the site, which will also include meadows and wetlands, with the thousands of native broadleaf trees funded through grant applications and planted by Greenwood Community Forest.
The project will offset 64% of the Council’s current carbon output, equivalent to the annual carbon output of 16 houses, and includes trees supplied by Greenwood Community Forest in partnership with Defra and the Forestry Commission.
It has also given the village its first large publicly accessible green space and supports the Forestry Commission’s target to increase tree cover in England by two percentage points to 16.5% by 2050.
Leader of RBC, Cllr Neil Clarke, said: “An astonishing 15,000 trees and hedges have now been planted as we look to offset even more carbon from our day-to-day operations.
“We’re one of just a handful of councils nationally with a project of this nature and scale, and it’s a testament to our ongoing commitment to our environmental priorities.
“We’re proud of this site and another in Kinoulton at Wolds Woods, where we are similarly planting thousands of trees. In total, over 40,000 will be in place by the end of the summer.
“Since 2020, our Carbon Clever project has made significant inroads into reducing carbon output. We invested over £5 million in measures at leisure centres in Cotgrave and Keyworth last year, and now over 90% of our vehicle fleet runs on electricity or vegetable oil.
“We hope planting these thousands of trees and shrubs can be another way to highlight to organisations and businesses how they can explore ways to offset their carbon emissions and help the whole borough become carbon neutral by 2050.
“It’s also a key way to promote nature recovery and increase tree canopy cover, helping us as a borough to meet our climate and ecological objectives.”
The site is also identified within the new Nottinghamshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy as an area that could become particularly important for nature recovery.
Greenwood Community Forest’s Woodland Creation Officer, Rachael Rickell, said: “Since 2020, Greenwood Community Forest has supported landowners by offering grants to plant trees funded by the Defra Trees for Climate programme.
“We were very pleased to support Rushcliffe Borough Council in its aspiration to create this new woodland in conjunction with RSK Countryside Management.
“To date, we have supported over 230 schemes and planted more than 800,000 trees, creating 660 hectares of new woodland.”
