Hundreds of trees have been planted in Winterton as part of a community led project to develop a community orchard.
The project is being led by Winterton 2022, which was formed in 2012 as one of 150 Local Trust ‘Big Local’ areas in England and received £1million funding to spend in Winterton over 10 years. Big Local is funded by the National Lottery, and aims to enable residents to make their communities even better places to live.
Following public consultation, it was decided to create a green open space which incorporated community fruit growing – recognising the area’s agricultural heritage as well as supporting local wildlife.
Humber Forest, the community forest for Hull, East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, has supplied grant funding for the trees being planted on the site at Water Lane, Winterton.
A total of 450 woodland trees are being planted including oak, silver birch and wild cherry, as well as 86 fruit trees being planted in the orchard, including apple, plum, cherry, and pear.
Thirty-three of the fruit trees being planted are special heritage fruit trees paid for by Winterton 2022.
In addition, a 250m hedgerow is being planted which will create habitats for wildlife.
Pupils from The Winterton Federation School and Winterton Academy joined other community volunteers to plant the trees.
Councillor David Rose, cabinet member for environment and strategy at North Lincolnshire Council, said:
“North Lincolnshire Council is proud to work with Winterton 2022, Humber Forest and local volunteers to promote tree planting and the recreation of traditional orchards in our area.
“A Green Future, our environmental policy, encourages local people to plant the right tree in the right place, as is happening in Winterton.
“Lincolnshire has 18 little-known traditional apple varieties and two plums, so it’s great to see heritage fruit tree varieties being brought back into our towns and villages.”
Kerrie Prowting, Winterton 2022 coordinator, said: “Working with Humber Forest, North Lincolnshire Council and The Conservation Volunteers has allowed us to really kickstart the community orchard, which would have taken us a much longer time otherwise.
“We are delighted with the number of volunteers who have turned up to help with this, and we welcome any other volunteers who would like to come forward to help us to plan and implement the next stage which will include planting soft fruits, building footpaths, putting in beehives and nesting boxes, and loads more.”
Leah Cave, Humber Forest partnership manager, said: “While planting these trees is something Humber Forest is really proud of, it is the benefit that these trees bring to the community that really matters.
“If you are a farmer or landowner and are interested in planting trees on your land, Humber Forest would love to work with you.”
Humber Forest is the community forest for Hull, East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, one of 15 across England, and part of the larger Northern Forest that stretches from Liverpool to the Yorkshire coast. It is not a single ‘forest’, but the collection of many trees, woodlands and hedgerows across the whole region.
Humber Forest can fund large and small projects, providing up to 100 per cent of agreed costs of tree planting, hedgerow creation, protection and maintenance.
Humber Forest is supported through the England’s Community Forests Trees for Climate programme enabled through Defra’s Nature for Climate Fund.
For more information, or to get involved, visit www.humberforest.org or email humber.forest@eastriding.gov.uk
Pictured: Winterton Councillor Elaine Marper, Kerrie Prowting of Winterton 2022, Leah Cave from Humber Forest, Kayley Rankin from The Conservation Volunteers and planting volunteers from local rotary clubs
