Woodland Creation Accelerator Fund

Conclusion of the Woodland Creation Accelerator Fund

The Woodland Creation Accelerator Fund officially concluded on 31st March 2025. The Fund aimed to support the creation of woodlands by providing funding and technical support to local authorities, helping them to establish new forests and woodlands across England. 

Background

In November 2022, 57 local authorities across England were awarded nearly £10 million in funding to accelerate tree planting activity, create green jobs and boost access to nature.

The fund was administered by the Forestry Commission in partnership with DEFRA. It provided local authorities with financial support to boost capacity and resource, helping local authorities to employ, train up and bring on board professional expertise to accelerate the delivery of tree planting and woodland creation commitments.

The ultimate goal of the fund was to enable more trees planted, particularly in winter seasons 2023/24 and 2024/25. The Fund created new green jobs and boosted access to nature.

In total, 113 new green jobs were created, this involved a wide range of roles and responsibilities and over 3.2 million trees were planted as a result of the WCAF funding. This aim was to help to expand the industry’s workforce, address skills shortages and help to grow the economy.    

ADEPT promoted the fund and provided technical support including running a discussion forum for the successful local authorities and holding a series of bi-monthly webinars with a range of case studies and topics to increase knowledge. 

Report and further information

The team is currently preparing the final report detailing the outcomes and impact of the project. A summary of this is currently being developed and will be uploaded to our website shortly.