Consultation Draft Bolsover Tree and Woodland Strategy

Total Canopy Cover

A canopy cover study was carried out by Treeconomics using Google Environmental Explorer (refer to Appendix 5.2) which found Bolsover currently has almost 2,800 hectares of tree canopy cover, covering 17.5% of the district. There is a large variation across the wards, with the lowest canopy cover found in Bolsover East ward, and the highest in Langwith ward.

Woodland Overview

Native broadleaved woodland covers 1,468 ha, which is 9.1% of the total area of Bolsover District, and 52% of all canopy cover.

Some 197 ha of conifer woodland can be seen in Bolsover, predominantly in Langwith ward. Much of the forestry in Bolsover dates back to post-war industry, and some plantations are identified within Bolsover's Local Nature Reserve Action Plan as potential sites in which to target thinning and felling to encourage the regeneration of more native broadleaf woodland in a bid to boost native biodiversity.

Table 1. Area of canopy under each classification.

Ancient Woodland

Ancient woodlands are woodlands which have been around since 1600. They fall into two categories; ancient semi-natural woodland, and plantations on ancient woodland sites. Only 2.5% of land in the UK is categorised as ancient woodland. In Derbyshire, some 4,920 ha of ancient woodland remains, with 633 ha in Bolsover District; 158 ha of ancient semi- natural woodland, and 476 ha of plantations on ancient woodland sites. Ancient woodland therefore accounts for 4% of land cover, and around 22.6% of all woodland in Bolsover District.

There are 1,646 residential properties within 300m of Ancient Woodlands out of a total of 36,864 residential properties within Bolsover. This figure rises to 4,699 if the distance is increased to 500m.

Linear green features

Linear feature such as hedges, wooded strips, and trees along waterways, roads and railways are an important part of any green landscape. They form linkages between larger green spaces, allowing species to move more freely across the landscape. Though they may not have the biodiversity of a woodland, they are important habitats in their own right, and often buffer other habitats from human disturbances. They also protect against soil degradation, and promote rainwater infiltration which can be of significant benefit to agriculture. Bolsover DC has more than 1,500 km of linear green features.

Table 3. Length of linear features under each classification.

Tree equity is the idea that all communities have equitable access to the benefits of trees where they live. Trees and green space may be abundant in some neighbourhoods, but absent in others, meaning that some areas may not only be less aesthetically pleasing than others, but also suffer more from the challenges of urban living, such as poor air quality, the urban heat island effect, and surface flooding risk.

The Woodland Trust have created a Tree Equity Score map of the UK, which ranks Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA's) with an index based on canopy cover, Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), air pollution, heat disparity, and at-risk age category (figure 4)

Despite the large amount of green space across Bolsover, in built up areas, tree equity scores range from 51 in one LSOA in the town of Bolsover, to 86 in one LSOA in Shirebrook. This is because tree canopy ranges significantly at LSOA level, from 22% down to as little as 3% in some areas, and because of the impact of some IMD scores which are taken in to account as part of the Tree Equity Score.

Public Access to Greenspace

Public accessibility to green space is crucial to green equity. There are several standards which have been suggested, for example, in urban spaces the 3-30-300 'rule' suggests that everyone should be able to see 3 trees from their home, live in an area with 30% canopy cover, and be within 300m of a public park or green space⁹. For Rural areas like Bolsover District, The Woodland Trust aspires that everyone should have access to a wood of at least 2 ha within 500m of their home; and a wood of at least 20 ha within 4km of their home¹⁰.

There are 162 woodlands over 2 ha within Bolsover; 81% of residential properties are within 500m of at least one of these.

There are 20 distinct large areas of woodland over 20 ha within Bolsover, and all residential properties are within 4km of one of these large woodlands. 64% of all residential properties are within 1km of at least one of these (figure 5).

*Methodology in Appendix II