Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Corporate Director of Neighbourhoods and Climate Change on the management of Council-owned woodland and tree planning programmes and issues and opportunities for woodland management and creation (for copy of report and presentation see file of minutes).

Sue Mullinger, Landscape Delivery Manager, was welcomed to the meeting to deliver the report and presentation.  She explained that the Council owned approximately 1800ha of woodland across 86 sites throughout the county, which was 10% of the total woodland resource in the county. Over 300ha of the woodland was ancient and therefore had considerable wildlife and historical value. The Council recognised that woodland management was an opportunity to improve the carbon performance of woodlands. It would also benefit wildlife conservation and enhance the quality and range of timber products and other ecosystem services that woodlands provide.

The Committee noted that by 2019 most of the Council’s woodland sites were covered by woodland management plans which placed the Council in a good position to access funding for the management of existing woodlands, such as the Woodland Improvement Grant.

The Council was now involved in a five-year funded programme to improve the condition of woodlands. The work to date had included releasing veteran trees, the removal of non-native species and coppicing work. The Landscape Delivery Manager pointed out that the processes for establishing woodland management plans were lengthy and involved the registration of land in order to access grant funding and the administration of consultations and consents.

The Landscape Delivery Manager informed the Committee that woodlands were distributed mainly in the centre and east of the county, reflecting the woodlands associated with the mining industry and reclamation schemes. Smaller woodlands were dispersed across the county and their management was difficult, due to issues associated with obtaining contractors to carry out small-scale thinning work and skills shortages in the forestry sector.

Challenges were also posed by extensive areas of woodland which presented responsibilities and liabilities including issues with fallen trees, fly-tipping, damage to buildings and anti-social behaviour.

Maximising volunteers had proved problematic, as, whilst there were many volunteers wishing to work in the woodlands, the Council’s legal duties were a consideration.

The Durham Woodland Revival (DWR) project enabled volunteers to manage their woodland independently and a Woodland Community Co-Ordinator post was established to work with the groups, whilst ensuring the Council’s legal duties, as landowner, were met. 

The Committee heard that deer browsing on woodland sites continued to require management and deer enclosure plots were being installed to assess the damage caused by deer.  The information gathered from the exercise would enable the Council to consider measures to address the issue.

In terms of the team structure, the Landscape Delivery Manager reported that since the last update to the Committee, the Senior Forester post had transferred from the Corporate Property and Land team into the dedicated Woodlands Forestry Team, with responsibility for the strategic management of the Council’s woodland resource.  The work to consolidate woodland management would be complete with the Corporate Property and Land review of the woodland estate to ensure sites were held correctly and assigned to appropriate teams.

With regard to woodland creation, the Landscape Delivery Manager commented that the Council continued to have an excellent track record, with approximately one million trees planted since 2000 and she provided information on some of the programmes and initiatives which had continued to build on the work.

The Committee heard that the Council was successful in an award of £1million in respect of the Urban Tree Challenge Fund (UTCF) which was a government initiative to plant trees in towns and villages with low tree coverage and plans had been put in place to plant approximately 400 street trees. The Landscape Delivery Manager highlighted that funding was provided for a maintenance period of 3 years, to establish the trees.

The Committee received information on the Council’s involvement in the Durham Hedgerow Partnership which aimed to promote and conserve hedgerows. It was reported that the Durham Woodland Creation (DWC) scheme to plant 10,000 trees in each Area Action Partnership (AAP) area had been extended in order to reach the target which had not been attained, due, in part, to a lack of land availability. The Trees for Children initiative which was the Council’s commitment to plant a tree for every school aged child in the county had seen almost 7,000 trees planted to date. Durham was also a partner in the North East Community Forest (NECF), one of fifteen community forests in England.

The Landscape Delivery Manager concluded the presentation by commenting that work was going well which was testament to the good team and the policies and procedures in place for cohesive working, to address the challenges of the future. 

The Chair thanked the Landscape Delivery Manager for the informative presentation and questions and comments were invited.

Councillor Adam thanked the Landscape Delivery Manager for the excellent work done since 2013 to introduce woodland management plans and for the improvements to the structure of the service, to consolidate the work.

Councillor Adam observed that the report lacked detail on work to tackle Ash dieback and he added that, at a recent site visit, he noted the value of hedgerows in respect of biodiversity and carbon capture and he asked whether there were plans to increase hedgerows in the county.

The Landscape Delivery Manager replied that Ash dieback was the remit of the Landscape Team and it was covered under the Council’s Tree Management Policy. In respect of hedgerows, the Landscape Delivery Manager explained the Council’s involvement with Durham Hedgerow Partnership which was a small scheme operating throughout the county which provided financial assistance for the renovation and planting of hedges. When planting hedgerows, sites were considered strategically in order to promote the distribution of species along the corridors. Whilst the Council had planted or restored approximately 350km of hedgerow, as much hedgerow was located on private land, there was a limit to the work the Council could undertake.

Councillor Nicholls praised the scale of the work and in particular the work of OASES within his division, to encourage children to engage with nature. He asked whether there was more scope for partnership work with organisations such as the Woodland Trust in terms of transferring ancient woodland to the Trust and whether work was carried out with parish councils. The Landscape Delivery Manager informed the Committee that the Council had partnered with the Woodland Trust on various projects over the years, such as the Jubilee Woods and it was currently working with the Woodland Trust on the Durham City Green Corridor project.  With regard to the transfer of ancient woodland to the Trust, the Landscape Delivery Manager could not comment on whether that would be possible. She added that she was aware of involvement with Newton Aycliffe Town Council in respect of woodland. 

Councillor Nicholls commented on the media reports regarding a number of trees planted by National Highways which had died due to lack of aftercare and he added that tree planting projects should be sustainable, which meant that resources were required, not only for tree planting but also for tree care. Councillor Nicholls expressed his disappointment at the lack of finance available to support the work of the team. 

Councillor Nicholls then referred to woodland safety and the great deal of work done following Storm Arwen and he asked the Landscape Delivery Manager what resources were available for woodland safety. The Landscape Delivery Manager replied that more resources were required and she clarified that the Senior Forester post which transferred from Corporate Property and Land enabled the establishment of the team to manage the operations across the Council, however, there was no budget associated with the transfer of the post. Clean and Green had secured £50,000 through the growth bid for the next financial year, which would be ring-fenced for woodland works. She added that the lack of funding and skills shortages were challenges particularly when responding to major incidents such as Storm Arwen.

Councillor Brown alerted members to some events which they may be interested in attending, highlighting that an email had been sent to local members regarding an upcoming Durham Green Corridor walk.  In addition, the Durham Hedgelaying Competition would be held at Woodland Hall Farm, Knitsley on Friday 11 October 2024.

Resolved:

The Committee:

a)    Noted the information provided in the report and presentation and commented accordingly.

b)    Agreed to receive a further update on the management of the Council’s woodland estate in the next work programme.