Opportunities for private land owners to support tree planting
Tree planting can improve your land and support your business. We can help you plan, fund and deliver woodland creation projects of different sizes through the Trees for Climate programme.
How tree planting can help
Tree planting can benefit your land in several ways, including:
- shelter and shade for livestock
- better soil quality
- more pollinators and other wildlife
- better water management and less soil erosion
Funding and support available
We are involved in Trees for Climate, a national, multi-million pound woodland creation programme. It offers one of the most competitive and flexible grant schemes available for tree planting.
We can help you plan, fund and deliver woodland creation projects that bring real value to your land.
Grants are available through the Great Western Community Forest (GWCF) for:
- community woodland creation
- woodland creation on private farmland
- community orchards
- hedgerows and shrub belts
- agroforestry
- standard trees in urban green spaces
- street tree planting
- small-scale planting
- planting in school grounds
Woodland examples we can support
Multi-purpose woodland (more than 5 hectares)
This type of planting must have:
- a minimum of 1,600 trees per hectare
- no single species making up more than 70%
- up to 20% woody shrubs
Low-density tree planting
This type of planting must have:
- a minimum of 25 trees per hectare
- a minimum final canopy cover of 20% across the planted area
- species that are right for the setting
Small-scale tree planting (0.5 to 4.99 hectares)
This type of planting must have:
- a minimum of 1,100 trees per hectare
- up to 20% woody shrubs
Hedgerows with or without trees
This type of planting must have:
- 5 plants per linear metre
- trees planted every 15 metres, where appropriate
- 70% native or locally characteristic [NOTE: confirm final wording]
Very small-scale tree planting (0.1 to 0.49 hectares)
This type of planting must have:
- a minimum of 1,100 trees per hectare
- up to 20% woody shrubs
- fruit trees are accepted
Natural colonisation
This type of planting must:
- achieve a minimum of 60% woody cover and 100 trees per hectare within ten years
Progress so far
Year 1: 2020 to 2021
Council-owned land was the main source of sites for tree planting. The Trees for Climate grant helped us plant 15 hectares at:
- Pentylands Country Park
- Moredon Playing Fields
- Coleshill
- Brimstone Farm
Year 2: 2021 to 2022
The focus moved to woodland planting on land not owned by the council. We created 21 hectares of new woodland, along with street trees and smaller community planting schemes, across 18 sites in the Community Forest area.
Year 3: 2022 to 2023
We delivered 12 hectares of new tree planting, including sites planned for natural regeneration and street trees.
Year 4: 2023 to 2024
In year 4, we are hoping to create around 37 hectares of woodland and tree planting. We are identifying locations and reviewing them for suitability.
Once sites have been fully assessed and agreed, we will list them so volunteers can see where they may want to get involved.
Suggest a project or get in touch
We welcome suggestions and ideas for tree planting and woodland creation projects across the Great Western Community Forest.
To support this work, the boundary of the Great Western Community Forest has been extended to cover areas of Wiltshire, South Gloucester [NOTE: confirm whether this should say South Gloucestershire], South Oxfordshire and West Berkshire.
For more information about the Trees for Climate project in Swindon, or to find out how to get involved, email CommunityForest@swindon.gov.uk.