Month: Feb 2026

Detailed plans are being crafted to create more than three hundred hectares of new woodland in Staffordshire – which will make it the largest newly-planted forest in England in the last 20 years.

The site in Abbots Bromley could fit around 750 football pitches within it and Forestry England says it will be called Bagots Park Wood.

It is hoped it will connect vital habitats already supporting animal species and plants such as the spotted marsh orchid.

It will also aim to improve the habitats of other wildlife including badgers, bats, newts and birds.

Paddy Harrop, central director of Forestry England, said: “Creating a woodland on this scale is a rare and exciting moment for us.

“It’s not since before 2005 that we’ve had an opportunity on this scale, and this project represents a major investment in the future of Staffordshire’s natural landscapes.

“Local people can look forward to spending time in this new woodland which will be a lasting natural asset for generations.”

Forestry England is now beginning its detailed planning and will work closely with communities and organisations as proposals take shape.

Draft designs will be shared later this year as part of a public consultation to help residents shape how the new woodland grows.

Using extensive site surveys and climate science, Forestry England says it will plant a mix of carefully selected tree species and weave open spaces throughout the site.

It says this approach will create a “mosaic of habitats able to adapt and thrive in a rapidly-changing climate”.

As the woodland grows, it will also lock up carbon, support wildlife and eventually contribute to a sustainable timber supply as part of the UK’s green economy.

Once the new woodland is established, Forestry England will open up a total of more than 600 hectares of woodland for local people to explore. This will include Bagots Park Wood, as well as over 300 hectares of additional land at the neighbouring Bagot Forest, which is already managed by Forestry England but has not previously been open to the public. With access to both sites, local people will be able to explore new and mature woodland side by side.

The project is funded through the government’s Nature for Climate Fund and forms part of Forestry England’s wider programme to create new, climate-resilient woodlands across the country. Since 2021 they have planted more than 2 million trees across 17 new woodlands covering more than 1,140 hectares. Each woodland is designed to withstand the threats from climate change, pests and diseases, and biodiversity collapse so they flourish in the future.

Click to access Bagots%20Forest%20Plan%202016_0.pdf

Photos of Bagots Park Wood are credited to Forestry England

forestryenglanduk

Sir Winston’s grandson, Lord Soames of Fletching said its removal was a “wicked thing to do” and questioned why access could not have been moved to accommodate the tree.

Campaigners have lost their fight to prevent the felling of a tree planted to commemorate the death of wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.

In the village of about 600 people campaigners had amassed more than 58,000 signatures on a petition to save the “Sir Winston” oak.

Despite a number of alternative suggestions for entrances to the site, including making a roundabout with the tree in the middle, Cossington Parish Council was told it would be felled “by the end of February”.

The oak, planted in memory of the famous politician, was removed on Friday to create an entrance to a new housing development in Cossington in Leicestershire.

Villagers said they were devastated to see the tree, planted in 1967, cut down.

Developer Bellway said there was no alternative access to their 130-home development off Main Street.

“I can’t bear to even see the site [of the tree],” said Penny Weston-Webb, 86, who was at the planting ceremony.

Weston-Webb, who cried after the tree was removed on Friday, said villagers had hoped to persuade the developer to spare the tree and find an alternative route into the estate.

“We have done everything to try to keep it. It’s such a shame to have lost a part of our village’s history. I am devastated, I really am,” she said.

Ms Weston-Webb added: “To a lot of people it was a memory of the Second World War. A lot of people from the village fought and we lost quite a few.”

Her father, Winston Martin, was blind in one eye, meaning the Army did not call him up for service during World War II.

Instead, he converted his hosiery factory to making parachutes for British troops to “do his bit”. “He would be horrified,” she said of the tree’s felling. “He loved the village.”

Villagers have been lobbying councils to save the tree since planning permission for the homes was approved in 2022.

Emma Crowe, clerk of Cossington Parish Council, said: “We are all very saddened.

“The tree was a highlight in the village.”

Crowe said the tree’s trunk had been salvaged and there were plans to sculpt it in a theme connected to Churchill with the resulting work of art then displayed somewhere in the village.

Villager Ian Bott, who was 10 when the tree was planted by then parish council chairman Jack Meadows, said he went down to watch the tree being removed.

“It was not a good day for me and it is a very sad time,” he said.

Residents gathered sombrely on Friday morning to watch workers reduce the tree to a stump in a five-hour procedure.

Leicestershire County Council, which is now led by Reform UK, said the oak was not the subject of a tree preservation order. Its highways department approved the development plans, alongside Charnwood Borough Council.

‘No Alternative Access’
A sapling has already been grown from one of the specimen’s acorns and is to be planted nearby.

A spokesperson for the developer said: “Bellway is due to start work on a new development of 130 homes in Cossington in the coming weeks.

“The land was purchased with outline planning permission in place which required the removal of the oak tree at the entrance to the site, with the consent of Leicestershire County Council’s highways department.

“There was no alternative access point.

“Bellway has liaised with the parish council since purchasing the land and progressing through the final stages of planning.

“Following this, Bellway agreed to hand over the remains of the tree to the parish with the intention for a sculpture to be created.

“In addition, Bellway will plant a number of new trees on site as part of the landscaping plan for the development.”

The Telegraph

BBC Leicester

Daily Express

Wood isn’t just a material to me… it’s alive memory made solid. A tree doesn’t rush. It listens while it grows. It feels everything… storms, drought, sunlight, soil, long winters, gentle seasons. And instead of reacting in fear, it adapts. Every year, it responds to life as it actually is, and that response becomes part of its body.

The rings are memory. Wide rings show years of ease and abundance. Tight rings show years of stress, cold, fire, and scarcity. Nothing is skipped. Nothing is erased. Even the hard years are honored. The tree learns how to survive without panic, how to bend without breaking, how to stay rooted when everything around it is changing. That wisdom becomes structure.

When a tree is cut, that memory doesn’t disappear. It stabilizes. The wood still carries the experience of patience, resilience, and balance. That’s why it feels the way it does to us. Wood calms the nervous system. It grounds us. It creates a sense of safety without saying a word. Our bodies recognize it… because it grew the way we are meant to live.

Most advanced worlds rely on materials that obey… metal, crystal, synthetics. Metal obeys. Crystal amplifies. Wood remembers. It doesn’t force energy. It harmonizes it. It relates instead of dominating.

Wood is a bridge material. Rooted below, reaching upward, standing in the middle as witness. That’s why it shows up at thresholds… homes, instruments, temples, cradles, doors, and crossings. Not because it’s primitive… but because it’s wise.

Earth is rich because it grows forests.

And when we remember that, stewardship replaces extraction… and living worlds are honored again.

Zachary Fisher