Woodland Trust HQ Visit

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the new Woodland Trust HQ located in Grantham off Dysart Road.
It is a stunning building with an emphasis on the use of wood and natural materials. It has a unique air circulation system as well. I thought the most innovative idea was how the building's IT is set up. Rather than have a computer at every desk the building has an IT room housing a central computer to which every keyboard and screen in the building is linked. As a result the energy costs to support the Woodland Trust computers has plummeted. The reason I like this idea so much, is that I could see this idea being applied across all businesses. It does not require a special building to achieve significant cuts in energy costs - just clever design.

The main reason for showing councillors around their lovely site, however, is that the Woodland Trust is after something for us. A Diamond Wood in Grantham to celebrate the Queens Diamond Jubilee. What a great idea, somewhere for local people to roam and discover nature for themselves. The only problem is that in order to create a wood the Trust need land, in or very near town.

Are there any landowners out there willing to share their land with us? According to the Woodland Trust the amount of new trees being planted is well below targets required. We are one of the least wooded countries in Europe, and Lincolnshire has among the lowest number of trees. Whilst to be fair we have an agricultural base there is still plenty of opportunity to plant trees if we chose to. We also need to conserve the trees we have.

I have some ideas for Diamond Wood sites but if you have any ideas please contact me.

For those with children the Woodland Trust has some great activities lined up for this summer.

It was exciting to hear that the Dysart Park Action Group will be the first local group to receive trees for planting. Local schools will be offered them as well.