We aim to lead by example and to showcase best practice for green network development. LFGNP and partner organisations are currently leading on a number of innovative projects across Lothians and Fife.

City of Edinburgh - Millennium Woods Project

Background to the Millennium Woodland Project

This project has been initiatied as an active Partnership by Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust and the City of Edinburgh Council. The project has recieved funding through the CSGN Development Fund and is in accordance with the wider vision of the LFGNP.

The City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) manages a number of small to medium scale woodlands, including approximately 70 young woodlands, extending to 100ha. These were established as Millennium Woodlands with the assistance of the Millennium Forest for Scotland Trust, FCS and with active community support. The Millennium woodlands are located throughout the city, with numerous sites being located in parks and other public greenspaces.

Most Millennium Woodland sites are located within residential areas and all these forty sites are fully accessible to the public. An additional thirty sites are located within school grounds. In physical terms these woodlands have suffered from an absence of management, and many are in relatively poor condition, and are currently not regarded as an integral part of the schools.

Management Issues and opportunities

The identified 70 Millennium Woodland sites that are under the ownership of CEC raise a number of issues that needs to be urgently addressed:

  • The current lack of an integrated and dedicated management framework, which has resulted in ad hoc management decisions being undertaken on some sites.
  • The woodlands are now roughly ten years old, and are at a stage where management intervention in the form of thinning, pruning and enhancement work may be highly effective in terms of ensuring their development as community assets.
  • The need to ensure that the woodlands deliver amenity and recreational benefits in keeping with their location within formal and semi-formal greenspaces, and adjacent to residential areas.
  • The opportunities that exist for improving biodiversity through management of the woodlands and the potential of creating integrated habitat networks with adjoining land.
  • The significant opportunities that the offer in terms of community involvement and benefits.

Outputs:

  • Survey and Audit
  • A detailed knowledge of the current condition and opportunities are required;
  • Audit and mapping of 70 millennium woodlands.
  • Production of management objectives.
  • Site survey and assessment with costed and quantified work proposals.
  • Identification of opportunities for social benefits through community participation, volunteering, health activities and education.
  • Physical Improvement Works

 The project will involve implementation of work on the ground to improve woodland condition. Works will involve:

  • Thinning
  • Pruning
  • Enhancement work
  • Litter removal

ii)  Social and community benefits

The project will deliver the social benefits of woodlands and Greenspaces on the doorsteps of disadvantaged communities. The aim will be to actively engage local people in the project. The location of the Millennium Woodland sites shows a very strong correlation with Edinburgh’s more disadvantaged communities, notably in terms of general deprivation and in terms of poor health

The Millennium Woodland sites also have the potential to assist in delivering the aims of the Edinburgh and Lothians Forest Habitat Network by forming green links between the City’s larger parks and woodlands.  This potential function is particularly noticeable in the south east of the city and in the Water of Leith corridor.

 Project Management and Co-ordination

A Woodland and Green Networks Officer has been employed to manage the work in partnership between CEC and Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust (ELGT). The Officer will manage contract work on the ground to improve the physical condition of the woodlands and will also involve the local community actively in the woodlands. The Officer will also input significantly into the work of the wider LFGN Partnership.

For further information about this project please contact Ian Whitehead at Lothians and Fife Green Network Partnership ian@lfgnp.org.uk

 

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