MP rooting for reforestation project push

Bath MP Wera Hobhouse has thrown her support behind a local reforestation project aiming to plant 100,000 new trees just eight miles west of Bath.

- Lewis Clarke

She visited Lower Chew Forest near Compton Dando to see the latest work by Avon Needs Trees, a charity dedicated to tackling the climate and nature emergencies by creating permanent woodlands in the Bristol-Avon river catchment.

Avon Needs Trees (ANT) has already planted 31,000 trees at Great Avon Wood near Pensford, a 100-acre site acquired in 2023.

Its latest project, Lower Chew Forest, spans 400 acres and is part of a wider DEFRA-funded Landscape Recovery initiative covering 780 hectares in the Chew Valley. ANT is working with seven other landowners to create a patchwork of woodlands, species-rich grasslands, wetlands and hedgerows.