VOLUNTEERS from the local community have joined officers from Wirral Council and The Mersey Forest to plant over 2,700 trees at Eastham Country Park.

The new planting will help to extend the ancient semi-natural woodland that is already on site at the popular park, making it more resilient to hazards such as storms and emerging pests and diseases, as well as increasing habitat for local wildlife and capturing carbon. 

The planting was part of a project that has seen more than 1.9m trees planted in the Northern Forest last year in the biggest planting season so far for the project, conservationists said.

It is the largest number of trees planted in a season since the project to create a swathe of woodland and tree cover across the north of England began six years ago, the Woodland Trust said.

The bumper season means nearly 8m new trees have been established across cities, towns and countryside across the region, with 87,000 households in the most deprived areas now within 500 metres – less than a 10-minute walk – away from woodland.

Across the region overall, there are 300,000 more households that are now less than a 10-minute walk from publicly accessible woodland.

Research by Liverpool John Moores University and commissioned by the Northern Forest partners, also highlighted a £43m boost a year for those living in the Northern Forest, with benefits from flood alleviation to improving health, more investment and higher house prices.

Since 2018, the Woodland Trust and community forests in the north of England – The Mersey Forest, Manchester City of Trees, the White Rose Forest and Humber Forest – have worked together on the project to establish 50m trees over 25 years, stretching from Liverpool to Hull.

Before the project – which has benefited from funding from the Environment Department (Defra), secured up to early 2026 – the area had just 7.6% tree cover, compared to the national average of 13%.

Nick Sellwood who leads the Woodland Trust’s Northern Forest team, said: “It was a very ambitious vision when we began the Northern Forest but what has been achieved for communities across the north, by bringing multiple agencies together, is nothing short of remarkable.”

He described the last planting season as “a bumper year” but there was still much more to do.

“There are now thousands more trees in cities, in the countryside – and in more inhospitable places high up in the Dales.

“More new woodlands bring huge benefits to people – not just in terms of wellbeing, but in jobs and a boost to businesses and the economy through the likes of improving air quality, reducing flooding and creating green jobs,” he said.

He added: “With more trees desperately needed across the UK to fight the ever-growing threat of climate change, we hope that the Northern Forest could inspire similar transformative projects in other parts of the country.”