Thousands of trees could be planted in North East England under a plan to build a new community forest that would help cut the region’s carbon emissions.

Around 500 hectares of new woodland would be created by 2025 under the proposals – restoring the carbon from more than 45,000 transatlantic flights.

But rather than being planted in one place, the trees would be split between parcels of land in Newcastle, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Sunderland and Durham.

The councils are drawing up an “expression of interest” to create the forest, which would include 39 hectares in Newcastle.

A spokesman for Newcastle City Council said: “All of the authorites are supportive of the process, which would most likely need to be submitted by the end of February in order to allow planting to begin in 2021.

“We’re confident the expression of interest will go ahead – allowing the North East to create a new community forest which will bring economic, social and environmental benefits to the region.”

Regeneration

Ten community forests have been planted in England in the last 30 years tied to a package of urban, economic and social regeneration.

They are located around large towns and cities including Manchester, Liverpool, Hull and Bristol. The largest is the White Rose Forest in West and North Yorkshire.

Discussions in the North East are focused on how the new forest could be managed and maintained. A budget for the scheme is yet to be set. Newcastle and Durham have already said they have funding in place.

As well as new areas of woodland, the scheme would include street trees and new green spaces around Newcastle and in the other cities.

‘National champion’

Richard Barnes, Newcastle City Council’s planning team manager told a meeting the cost to each authority would be around £45,000 a year for five years, although discussions were underway to bring it down to £25,000.

Over the next five years, the Community Forest Trust, the “national champion” for community forests in England, wants to plant 6,000 hectares of new forests across the country.

In December, the Government announced a £12m fund to plant 500 hectares of trees in England before the summer to restore 100,000 tonnes of carbon.

It is one of the measures aimed at delivering the Government’s commitment to plant 30,000 hectares of new trees a year by 2025 and also its net zero emissions targets.