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The Council is a formal partner to the concept and vision of a Central Scotland Forest, a forest which is designed to meet the diverse needs of the 21st Century. Based on sustainability principles, the Forest is delivering an enhanced environment, encouraging both business and residential development in an area formerly suffering a negative visual image.
Crucial to the delivery of the Forest is the work of the Central Scotland Forest Trust, which the Council is pleased to support through financial contribution, information exchange, project identification and partnership working.
The Forest Strategy, originally adopted in 1995, is currently under review to consider how best the Forest can be delivered to meet new challenges of a changing economic and policy background. Staff from the Environmental Projects Team are actively involved in the shaping of this policy review. Aspects to be addressed include landscape character assessments , land capability for forestry or other uses, countryside recreational potential.
Benefits of the Forest include:
- Better quality of life for local communities.
- Improved visual appearance.
- Job creation.
- Forest-based industries and local timber supply.
- Improved path networks and countryside access.
- Inward business investment..
- Development of local tourism enterprises.
Provision of the Forest supports a number of other Council adopted strategies eg. The North Lanarkshire Public Access Strategy and The North Lanarkshire Biodiversity Action Plan in particular the Broadleaved and Mixed Woodland Habitat Action Plan.
Within recent years The Environmental Projects Team has helped identify and provided technical and grant support to a number of community based projects for public access, community parks and nature conservation whilst working in partnership with the Countryside Trust.
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