Over 10 million trees have been established in The Mersey Forest since 1991
Over 10 million trees have been established in The Mersey Forest since 1991
Over 10 million trees have been established in The Mersey Forest since 1991
The Mersey Forest is a place, and The Mersey Forest Partnership are the group of organisations that work together to deliver The Mersey Forest Plan. Our plan is focused on growing a network of well looked after trees and woods, as well as other habitats across Cheshire and Merseyside. We work with lots of people and organisations to make this happen – partners, landowners, manager, farmers, local communities, businesses and schools.
The Mersey Forest team helps to coordinate the partnership in various ways to help deliver The Mersey Forest Plan.
We have a board and steering group that guide our work which you can find out more about here.
The organisations in The Mersey Forest Partnership are not for profit (entities). We are partly funded through Local Authorities in the partnership. We also bid for grants from various organisations, including central government, which we use to help deliver The Mersey Forest Plan.
Our strategic budget is provided in our five-year delivery plan.
We can provide information about how ‘Friends of’ groups can access grants that might be available and we can offer other support to help groups deliver The Mersey Forest Plan. We can also signpost to other successful ‘Friends of’ groups in the local area who may be willing to share their experience (for example Friends of Anderton and Marbury).
When we redeveloped the website in early 2025, we decided that we’d change our approach to listing individual woodlands and greenspaces in the area. We do continue to map woodlands in our area on our Tree Atlas, but we recommend using other websites or apps to find out more detailed information about accessible routes to enjoy these woodlands and greenspaces. Visit the Enjoy trees and woods page on our website for more information.
Get in touch with The Mersey Forest via our online application form or by emailing: mail@merseyforest.org.uk to make an enquiry about planting trees on your land. You will be sent a form to complete where you will need to provide some basic information, such as the location of your land, your estimated planting area, current land type (e.g. former agricultural) and a map of the area.
A Woodland Advisor will get in touch and discuss your project and visit your site to assess the land. They will then work with you to design a new woodland to achieve your objectives, making sure that the right trees are planted in the right place.
Regulatory approvals may be required for your project, depending on the scale and location. We will work with you and the relevant authorities to gain the necessary permissions.
We can supply funding directly for your project, with our Trees for Climate funding covering up to 100% of the costs of tree planting, including tree guards and associated infrastructure. You can find out more about this grant on our website.
If you need support delivering your project your Woodland Advisor can help you source the trees and materials needed, plus recommend contractors that can help you get the trees in the ground.
Every planting site that we fund is visited by an experienced Woodland Advisor when the landowner first enquires about planting. We do a full assessment of the land and only sites that are suitable progress. As part of this process, we complete a risk assessment and, for larger schemes, environmental impact assessments, if required, to ensure the scheme only has a positive impact for the local wildlife and environment.
We encourage landowners and farmers to plant on less productive land or land that is not in use, so as not to impact on the farm business and food production levels.
Trees can benefit a farm business by creating shelter belts, reducing water loss from the soil, reducing flooding and creating shade for livestock.
We have a number of schemes that are looking at agroforestry as a way of managing their land. If your land falls within The Mersey Forest boundary, our local Woodland Advisor will visit your site and work closely with you to suggest a woodland establishment scheme that works for the farm business.
We take a flexible approach to each woodland establishment scheme and can fund schemes from 0.1ha up. These can include design elements such as grass or wildflower margins, to further improve biodiversity in the area, and hedgerows. Plus, our grants cover up to 15 years of establishment payments.
Different planting schemes are planted at different intervals depending on the best design for the landowner. One of the schemes featured in our online video has been planted at 1,100 tree stems per hectare. This works out at around 3m spacings. We try to avoid planting in straight lines, at regular intervals, and instead plant trees more randomly in species groups of 3 to 11, to create a more natural feel to the woodland. By designing a scheme in this way we end up with areas of trees alongside areas of open space around areas that maybe rocky or water features for example.
Each planting scheme and landowner has unique requirements and objectives, so trees will be planted at a spacing which is best suited to these. A commercial woodland for example will be planted in a different way to one planted for habitat creation.
Typically, we plant trees at between 2-3 metre spacings which works out at 1,100-2,500 trees per hectare.The reason for these spacings is that the young trees provide some protection for each other as they grow and ensure that a healthy woodland is established. There is always at least 20% woody shrubs included within those numbers and it’s important to remember that when planting a woodland you must follow the UK Forestry Standard which ensures a suitable and diverse species of trees is planted.
Ensuring the site is suitable for planting and planning for ongoing maintenance is really important with any planting project. Our Woodland Advisors work closely with landowners to provide advice on this, helping them to keep on top of their woodland management to ensure their woodlands thrive.
Part of our grant offer is that we can fund a long-term establishment plan of up to 15 years. The landowner is responsible for the trees that are planted on their land and we recommend having a long-term woodland management plan in place to help with this.
The length of the Agreement you enter into when you receive a Trees for Climate grant is 15 years. This means you must look after your trees as set out in the grant for those 15 years or your grant could be reclaimed.
The Grant should cover the upfront costs for planting your woodland and ensure enough money is left to help with maintaining your trees and other habitats.
The payments are made in three instalments:
Once a landowner completes an Expression of Interest Form an experienced Woodland Advisor will visit a landowner’s site to assess the type of land, look at the soil quality and planting in the local area. From this assessment they will decide if a potential planting scheme is suitable and will assess all factors which need to be considered when designing the woodland, such as archaeological features, landscape character, ecology and utilities. They will also gain any permission that may be need from government bodies like Forestry Commission and Natural England.
England’s Community Forest network, which The Mersey Forest is part of, are exploring ways to become plastic-free and are currently looking into alternatives to plastic guards to find one that is both effective and sustainable. We have been trialling some of these alternative guards and are lobbying to try and get more support for non-plastic guards.
We are using plastic guards on some of our sites currently to provide the trees with the best change to grow large enough to avoid being browsed by small animals, such as rabbits and voles, or even deer on some sites. We do encourage the removal and recycling of any plastic tree guards as currently recommended practice, once the trees are large enough to avoid being damaged.
A local Woodland Advisor will assess which tree species will be suitable for a landowner’s site once they have completed a site visit. This will be based on a number of things including the type of soil on the land and the tree species which can be found locally. The vast majority of the species we select will be native species, based around the woodland types that are found in the UK. Due to our changing climate, it is also important to look ahead and see which trees might thrive in the same location but in 50-100 years’ time.
Orchard creation and the planting of larger trees, known as “standards”, aren’t typically fundable through Trees for Climate but may be included in small amounts within a larger planting scheme; this would be at the discretion of the Woodland Adviser assessing the site.
We can fund up to 100% of the costs of a woodland creation project. This includes funding for the trees and associated infrastructure, such as fencing, guards and gates.
Once the landowner has signed the landowner agreement, which details the scheme that will be planted on the land, the landowner will receive the first tranche of the funding.
The payments are made in 3 instalments:
There are several grants and other incentives available for woodland creation, maintenance, management and tree health, outside of Community Forest areas. For details, go to: https://woodlandcreation.campaign.gov.uk/grants-and-support/
Unfortunately, we are currently unable to accept donations of trees from the public. We have reluctantly come to adopt this position because of the logistical difficulties associated with fitting them into projects, maintaining the principles of right-tree-right-place, and working within the limitations of only planting ‘Plant Healthy’ tree stock. Our position on this has been strengthened by the current severe threats posed to the urban forest by invasive pests and diseases, which have forced us to limit ourselves to a few trusted suppliers.
Other charities are likely to have a similar stance, so we suggest contacting local friends of parks associations, schools, or community groups.
A tree may already be protected by a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) or because it is located in a conservation area. Protected trees generally cannot be cut down, topped, lopped, uprooted, or deliberately damaged without permission from the local planning authority.
We recommend visiting your local authority’s website and searching for Tree Preservation Order to find out if it is protected and making contact with the Council’s planning or tree officer.
If the tree is not currently protected, you can ask the Council to consider making a TPO.
If work has already started and you think it might be unauthorised contact your local authority. If woodland-scale felling is involved, you can report suspected illegal felling to the Forestry Commission.
If the tree is blocking a road contact the local highways authority. If it is blocking a motorway or major A-road contact National Highways.
If the tree has fallen on a public footpath, park or council-owned land report it to the relevant local authority for your area.
If the tree has fallen on private land the landowner is generally responsible for dealing with it, unless it poses an immediate risk to the public.
If you think there is an immediate danger to life, please call 999.
The Mersey Forest occasionally attend community events, dependent on staff capacity.
Please contact us with details of your event, including location and timings, and we’ll review this to see if we are available to attend.
We don’t organise memorial planting directly on any of the sites that we manage but there is a fantastic organisation called Life for a Life that plant memorial trees to commemorate loved ones. Their contact details are:
T: 0161 624 2299
The Mersey Forest runs fully managed corporate volunteering days across Cheshire and Merseyside. Sessions usually last between two and five hours and are planned around the season, location and the needs of your team.
Activities vary throughout the year and can include tree planting, woodland maintenance, meadow and heathland restoration, wildlife habitat improvements and caring for local green spaces. Our team provides the tools, PPE, guidance, lunch and refreshments. We can accommodate different group sizes, although groups are typically up to 20 people per session.
After the session, we can provide photos and a short summary of your team’s impact. Fees vary depending on the activity, group size and location.
Please make an enquiry via our contact form.
We post open job vacancies on our website and also our social media channels.
Urban trees form a vital part of our approach with local authority partners to tackle the increase in temperature in our towns and cities (also known as the urban heat island).
The heat island effect is the result of the presence of heat absorbing infrastructure such as roads, cars and buildings. Trees help cool the air around this infrastructure and creates shaded spaces where temperatures can be significantly lower.
The Mersey Forest will support requests for tree planting made to Local Authorities, where locations are deemed viable when set against a number of constraints checks made by the Local Authority’s Tree Officer and Highways colleagues.
Single stem trees can be located in parks, open spaces, grass verges in streets, and in hardstanding areas outside property.
Standard trees have other benefits such as providing greenery, creating wildlife corridors, creating all year round interest with flowering and fruiting attributes.
Get in touch via our enquiry form if there is an area you think may benefit from tree planting.
We organise regular volunteering sessions at Bold Forest Park which take place every Tuesday, between 10am – 2pm. Find out more on our volunteering page.
We occasionally host planting days at various locations across the region and will share details of these on our social media channels.
There are lots of groups and organisations doing great work caring for their local greenspaces and woods, with opportunities for people to get involved. Visit our volunteering page for those that we are aware of.
