New 19-acre community forest planned

NINETEEN acres of land in Seend could become a new permanent forest for all the community to enjoy.

The land, located to the north of Seend between the village and the Kennet and Avon Canal, would include a community orchard, help boost local biodiversity, which is in “crisis,” and assist with local flood management.

Behind the project is new charity, Avon Needs Trees, who has launched a fundraising campaign to help raise the £175,000 needed to purchase the land – a figure the charity says they have already made “significant progress” towards.

However, Avon Needs Trees says that they still need “all the help they can get” from the public and is hoping to raise at least £5,000 from public donations. The remainder of the £175,000 needed is “anticipated” to be raised via trusts and businesses.

“Around Melksham there is very little woodland – there is almost none,” said  chair of Avon Needs Trees, Nikki Jones, speaking to Melksham News. “And what we’re trying to create is a facility, a new woodland, that people and the community of Seend can use.

“This land is right on the edge of Seend, so we are hoping to provide an area for a community orchard, so there will be food production on the land and open access for the community to pick fruit and nuts growing there.

“The land already has public footpaths going across it, so there is already public access to the area. But we will open up more of that land so people can move off the footpaths and enjoy more of the space.”

“We would love to buy the land by this coming winter and start planting this winter – and we will need the local community to help with tree planting – from November through to February – there will be thousands of trees to plant, and we can’t do that ourselves! We’d also like local people to help manage the project too.”

About the potential benefits to local wildlife the new woodland may bring – especially to the local bird populations, Nikki explained, “There is a biodiversity crisis – we’ve got local volunteer ornithologists who have surveyed around this area for many years and they have told us that they are aware of a decline in species – particularly key species like the cuckoo and woodpeckers.

“They heard them and were aware of them four to five years ago, but they are gone now. We are hoping we can get those back.”

As part of its “20 year  and beyond” mission, Avon Needs Trees is buying land  for reforesting in the Bristol-Avon catchment area – an area that stretches across parts of Wiltshire, Somerset, and South Gloucestershire. 

They say that creating new and permanent woodland throughout the Bristol-Avon catchment area – which has lost almost all of its woodland over the last few centuries – will help tackle climate change, provide natural flood management, help enhance biodiversity, protect water quality by reducing nitrogen run off, and provide more public open spaces.

The charity, which launched last year, has already completed their first purchase of land – 34 acres at Hazeland between Chippenham and Calne.

Avon Needs Trees is hosting an open day at the site in Seend on Sunday 4th of October and is inviting local residents to come along to see the land, meet the trustees and get their questions answered. 

Due to Covid-19 restrictions the charity requires people to contact them first by email to register their interest for the open day – the charity will arrange an arrival time and conduct tours in small groups. For more information, email: contact@avonneedstrees.org.uk

To support and donate to the Avon Needs Trees fundraiser for the land at Seend, visit the website: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/avonneedstrees