Yorkshire community forest named England's best

Kirklees Council is one of the lead organisations for the White Rose Forest programme, helping to oversee where trees are needed most in the area

A community forest which has seen nearly 2,000 acres (809 hectares) of new woodland and trees planted in parts of Yorkshire over the past year has been named the best in England in 2024.

Staff at the White Rose Forest work with landowners, councils and communities to plan, fund and plant trees where they are needed the most in North and West Yorkshire.

It has been named England's Community Forest of the Year for its "leading role in woodland creation" by the England’s Community Forests (ECF) conference .

Currently, there are a total of 15 community forests across the country which are managed by ECF.

'Protect environment'

The organisation said the 2023-24 planting season had been a "record breaker across the ECF network".

It said almost 4,940 acres (2,000 hectares) of new woodland and hedgerows had been planted during that period, with the White Rose Forest team responsible for more than 1,977 acres (800 hectares) of that total.

Guy Thompson, director of the White Rose Forest, said: "It’s testament to the dedication and hard work of our team and partners that we have been able to support more landowners and woodland creation projects than ever before over the last year.

“All our work aims to protect and improve our natural environment and local communities across North and West Yorkshire."

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