Plant a ‘forest of Britain’ for Queen’s jubilee

THE next government should commit to a new “forest of Britain” to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in three years’ time, a think tank says today.

The forest would be a two-mile wide corridor from Land’s End in Cornwall to John O’groats in the north of Scotland to connect conservation sites.

The report from Policy Exchange, titled Bigger, Better Forests, says that once the UK is free of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy, trees can be properly integrated into land management. The new forest, to mark the Queen’s 70 years on the throne in 2022, would help “to connect conservation sites across the landscape and put eco-tourism at the heart of rural communities along its route”.

The plan is supported by BBC broadcaster John Humphrys who says in a foreword to the report: “We all want to see more trees in our not-sufficientlygreen and pleasant land. The scientific case is unanswerable.

“What this report suggests is not ‘rewilding’, but the development of farm woodlands and agro-forestry as a central plan of our agricultural policy.”

There is already a frantic attempt by all parties to plant more trees to help combat climate change during the election campaign. Labour wants to plant two billion trees by 2040 while other parties have gone for smaller targets. The Tories have made a pledge to plant 30million trees a year until 2024, while the Lib Dems have said they will plant 60million a year until 2045.

The report also calls for “Natural Capital Strategies” to outline land, water, ecological and forestry priorities for each region, alongside a new Forestry Act. Farmers would also be encouraged to pursue more diverse land management, such as farm woodlands and agroforestry which would integrate trees within grazing land or orchards with arable crops.