A new grant to help prepare productive woodland creation proposals is now available from Forestry Commission Scotland. The aim of the Planning Grant is to promote productive woodland planting by ensuring that woodland creation proposals are based on good knowledge of the sensitivities and local issues and are well integrated with other land objectives so as to secure multiple benefits.
Finance Secretary John Swinney today met some of the young people benefitting from Forestry Commission employment programmes in Scotland.
Mr Swinney spent the morning with trainees who are gaining employability skills and experience by helping to improve one of Scotland's main cycle routes near Uddingston in South Lanarkshire. Sustrans National Route 75 of the National
Cycle Network path is also part of the Clyde Walkway. The young people are strimming, tree thinning and pruning to help make the access route a more open and attractive place to use.
The papers of the third Woodland Expansion Advisory Group have now been published on the WEAG website.
There are a number of interesting items (covering topics as varied as vacant and derelict land and ecosystem services) including a report by Bob Stubbs which examines the different barriers faced by landowners and forestry investors, and an investigation by Scott McG Wilson into different models of forestry that could help integrate trees with farming and sporting interests.
A new guide from the Scottish Government highlighting the role of Green Infrastructure in good design was launched today (8 November 2011).
The Seven Lochs Wetland Park is an exciting new green network project in the N.E. of Glasgow – spanning the Glasgow and North Lanarkshire Council areas. Glasgow and Clyde Valley Green Network Partnership (GCVGNP), working on behalf of the Gartloch Gartcosh Strategic Delivery Partnership and supported by the Central Scotland Green Network Development Fund, has published a draft ‘Seven Lochs Wetland Park vision and masterplan’.
GCVGNP now want to communicate this plan as widely as possible to organisations working in and around the Park, and gather comments and feedback on the proposals and how they can be further developed.
The Central Scotland Green Network (CSGN); the largest greenspace initiative in Europe, wants to celebrate and share learning from the City of Edinburgh Council’s Parks Team after it was voted the top team in the UK.
Keith Geddes, Chair of the Central Scotland Green Network Partnership, said “We have an example of best practice right here on our doorstep and we plan to ensure the knowledge is communicated across central Scotland. Austerity in the public sector economy does not mean we have to lose quality, as this award shows. We intend to do our bit by helping make sure that best practice is communicated and shared.”
The local authority team in Edinburgh, one of the 19 local authorities covered by the CSGN area, was voted the ‘Best Service Team: Parks, Ground and Horticultural Service’ at the Association for Public Sector Excellence Awards last month.
Grants for small-scale, community led projects delivering the green network are now available through the CSGN Community Projects Fund.
Groups can apply for funding of up to £1,000 for projects that:
• deliver green network improvements on the ground; and/or
• increase community use of the green network; and/or
• Increase community involvement in the maintenance and enhancement of the green network locally.
The overall aim of the Fund is to foster community involvement in delivering the CSGN in their area.
For more information see our funding page.