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Small Woods Association
Green Wood Centre
Station Road
Coalbrookdale
Telford
TF8 7DR

Tel: 01952 432769
Fax: 01952 433082

Registered Charity Number: 1081874
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Herefordshire Sustain Project

This project was born out of a field meeting in the spring of 2001 at Highgrove hosted by HRH The Prince of Wales and the Duchy of Cornwall (who had recently purchased the Prudential Estate in Herefordshire, which includes 1500 acres of woodland). Since then, through a series of meetings, it has developed a broad base of partners all of whom have remits for sustainability in woodland management.

Katie Eastaugh was appointed as the Partnership Officer in December 2002. The project is funded by the Duchy of Cornwall, the Forestry Commission and the Small Woods Association, with Judy Walker as Chairman of the Trustees.

In March 2003 a policy context and targets paper was presented to and adopted by the HSP partnership at a seminar in Hereford that aims to: put woodlands, people and business at the heart of a working sustainability partnership project that could become a replicable model for
sustainability in the UK through:

• Renewable Energy:Wood fuel - HSP has brokered a range of meetings to encourage greater use of this renewable, sustainable fuel source and is looking to develop a ‘% for environment' scheme. This will potentially be a grant scheme that will use planning mitigation agreements to develop a fund in conjunction with the Forestry Commission to encourage woodland owners to begin management of under managed woodlands, if the thinnings are used in local woodfuel projects.

Part of this work has involved securing funding to develop a contract with the government to enable farmers to include hay grown on set-aside land as a renewable energy crop (tying in with the DEFRA approach of whole farm management), which in turn should help to support the biodiversity of farmland. The Hay Energy Project should be completed shortly.

•Health and Well-being - HSP, with its Wye Wood - Newton Coppice Project partnership, was the first project in the country to be awarded a Woodland and Health pilot fund from the Forestry Commission. It has been evaluated by the Forestry Commission.

The Wye Wood Project has been one of the partnership's successes. This project works with our rural communities to encourage the use of woodlands for the health benefits of the wider community. See Case Study below.

HSP is looking to source further funding to develop the project into a county-wide scheme.

For more details contact Kate Lawes 01568 770422 or katelawes@smallwoods.org.uk

• Industry Support:Training and workshops, including apprenticeships to encourage greater participation in the wood industry promoting employment opportunities.

• Community and Education - Developing social forestry initiatives encouraging healthier lifestyles.

Other projects HSP is involved with include looking at ways to secure the long-term future of ancient apple orchards, new training opportunities and additional health initiatives.

For further information contact the Partnership Officer, Kate Tudge: tel: 07717 331682 katetudge@smallwoods.org.uk.

Last Updated: 25/05/2007