Shropshire WT - Telford Green Network LL
To the east of Telford and based around the iconic Wrekin Hill, perhaps Shropshire’s best-known landmark, is the Telford green network: 20,000 hectares of open space. Here, just a stone’s throw from an urban population of over 150,000 people, is a rich mix of wildlife habitat taking in ancient woodlands, species-rich meadows and veteran trees.
bringing people together to protect this precious greenspace
When the new town of Telford ('The Forest City') was created, its designers imagined a landscape veined with woodland, parks and green spaces. This pioneering vision for a 'green network' was made real through the planting of around six million trees and 10 million shrubs. Along with the natural regeneration of former mining and industrial areas, this created an urban landscape in which people and wildlife live together. The green network links up with the surrounding countryside, including the Wrekin and Ercall hills to the west and the thickly wooded River Severn valley along its southern edge.
However, this network is under threat. Telford's population is expected to grow to 200,000 within a generation, larger than that of Oxford or Newcastle today, and putting pressure on the town's wild places.
This project aims to bring together communities, landowners and land managers to protect this precious greenspace from development and to manage recreational pressure on the Wrekin, which has 100,000 visitors a year. The scheme focuses on the coordination of interest groups to develop new community projects, and the Trust is working with politicians, planners and developers.
What’s happening?
There is now a conservation management plan for the Wrekin, which is being delivered by the Wrekin Forest Partnership.
Social programmes led by the Local Authority are encouraging young people to access the area.
Over the past three years Shropshire Wildlife Trust has developed the Wrekin Forest Volunteers, run major schools projects, worked with local businesses, helped young people find inspiration in the natural world and looked after woods, wetlands and other good wildlife areas.
Start date: 2006
Scheme area: 4,567 hectares
Trust reserves within the scheme
Granville Country Park, The Ercall, Lightmoor
This scheme is helping species including...
Dingy skipper and green hairstreak butterflies, great crested newt, bee orchid.
Current threats to the landscape
Development, recreational pressure - Wrekin Forest is directly adjacent to the developing urban area of Telford and as a consequence is under visitor pressure.
This scheme is also...
Helping wildlife adapt to climate change, providing recreational, educational and volunteering opportunities, improving access for people, providing opportunities for green tourism.
Partners
Local authorities, local landowners
To find out more
Email Shropshire Wildife Trust | Tel: 01743 284280 | Telford and the Wrekin Forest
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