News / Avon Needs Trees
Major funding boost for South West’s ‘largest woodland in a generation’
On the back of providing a major financial boost to City to Sea, a campaigning organisation that aims to stop plastic pollution, Triodos Bank has provided financial backing to another environmental initiative, hailed as “the largest new woodland in the South West for a generation”.
Avon Needs Trees, a tree-planting charity based in Bristol, has purchased 422 acres of land that will be used to create a new forest.
Triodos Bank, whose UK headquarters are on Deanery Road close to Bristol Central Library, has provided a £3.85m loan and its corporate finance team advised the charity on sourcing repayable capital.
The site at Wick Farm near Compton Dando will be home to Lower Chew Forest, which together with adjoining woodland will create the largest new woodland in the region.
The plans include establishing a new forest of 100,000 trees and shrubs and the creation of complementary habitats, including wetlands, miles of hedgerow and species-rich grassland.
A fantastic first tree care day of the season at Great Avon Wood! ???
22 volunteers joined us to check how the newly planted trees are getting along and help us with essential tree care tasks.
Want to help our young woodlands flourish?
Sign up ?https://t.co/MfGeKwBVWO pic.twitter.com/YE7uMjtSV6
— Avon Needs Trees (@AvonNeedsTrees) May 29, 2024
Laura Rumph, senior relationship manager for nature, food and resource at Triodos Bank UK, said: “Our work on models for investing in nature restoration projects means we can take an innovative, flexible approach to supporting projects like these.
“Recognising that collaboration is key, we were able to find ways for public and private funding to work together, tailoring a bespoke model to allow the project to scale.
“As firm advocates of the critical role the financial system has to play in supporting nature and reversing biodiversity loss, we’re proud to support what is arguably the most extensive charity-driven Biodiversity Net Gain initiative in the UK to date and hope this inspires other projects on this scale in the South West and beyond.”
First established in 2019, Avon Needs Trees has planted more than 35,000 native trees in the Somerset and Wiltshire countryside – photo: Daisy Brasington
Lower Chew Forest will offer visitors the chance to spend time in nature and Avon Needs Trees is exploring opportunities for regenerative food production and agroforestry. The forest will also play a role in reducing downstream flooding in local villages as well as in Keynsham and Bristol.
Dave Wood, chief executive at Avon Needs Trees, said: “The Lower Chew Forest will have huge significance to our region, particularly as we have just 7.8 per cent woodland cover in the West of England, which is critically low compared to 13.3 per cent average across the whole of the UK.
“Our plans will bring a huge range of benefits to nature and our communities, including helping to tackle the climate emergency, improving biodiversity connectivity and providing a place for people to volunteer, learn and connect with nature.”
The Deanery Road-based bank provided a £3.85m loan and its corporate finance team advised the charity on sourcing repayable capital – photo: Triodos Bank
In addition to the loan from Triodos Bank, the acquisition has been funded through a crowdfunding campaign by Avon Needs Trees, which raised more than £171,000, along with funds from the Forest of Avon through its Trees for Climate land acquisition fund, backed by Defra’s Nature for Climate Fund.
Main photo: Barbara Evripidou
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