New public woodland could be acquired in Plymouth

Council expected to pay up to £270,000 for land

Leader of Plymouth City Council Tudor Evans has authorised spending £270,000 to acquire private land at Plympton and create a new public woodland.

An executive decision was made under delegated powers to approve the business case and purchase land for sale at Merafield Road, subject to the council’s offer being accepted.

It plans to fund it with monies from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Trees for Climate programme.

City council documents say the authority has “the opportunity to acquire a strategically important area of land for woodland creation and biodiversity enhancement… enhancing existing adjacent ancient semi-natural woodland at Hardwick wood, and increasing the recreational and amenity benefit of the site for members of the public.”

The land is currently not formally accessible to the public.

Plymouth City Council is prepared to spend £187,000 on the land and £85,000 to plant it up and improve wildlife habitats.

The site would also help offset the authority’s carbon emissions in the race to be net zero by 2030 and provide biodiversity net gain units which can be sold to developers and fund the long term maintenance of the site.

A council report says there is a low risk that the DEFRA funding does not come through to fund the acquisition but this can be mitigated by stopping the acquisition process or through re-sale of the land to recover the cost to PCC.

Plymouth City Council is lead partner in the Plymouth and South Devon Community Forest Programme (PSDCF) which is part of England’s Community Forests network, delivering Defra’s Trees for Climate programme, creating woodland and planting trees at scale across England to enhance biodiversity, combat climate change, and to provide “myriad benefits to local communities”. 

Defra’s Trees for Climate fund provides additional funding for the acquisition of land for the purposes of woodland creation and biodiversity enhancement.

Although firm landscaping plans have not yet been devised, initial ideas for the site include formal, maintained access pathways that cross through a mix of meadow grassland and woodland with benches and picnic areas.

Councillor Tom Briars-Delve (Lab, Stoke), cabinet member for the environment and climate change said: “I’m really pleased to be able to make this purchase and provide a new destination green space.

“We’ve worked hard over the past few years on urban tree planting, but this will give us an opportunity to do something a little bit different.

“I look forward to completing the purchase and being able to formalise plans for the site.”

Independent councillor for Plympton Erle Terri Beer said she welcomed this  green lung for Plympton but hoped the funding would be forthcoming as the land could be vulnerable from development if it was sold on.