Northern Forest

[Old Grumpy]

So, Trump builds a wall to keep out his "non-desirables", Gove builds a forest!

Makes you proud to be British.

This forest will be in the Midlands

So I presume you mean it is to keep non-desirables out of the North!

[oddoneout]

Has anybody who is quick to pour lefty scorn investigated whether or not this will make a positive impact for the better on the environment - in particular flooding in the Calder (Happy) Valley? If they do and come up with the answer that it will not, I am behind you 100% comrades!

In general terms planting trees is A Good Thing(there are exceptions) and where the proposed schemes come to fruition they will doubtless bring benefit not only to the environment(possibly including the specific Calder Valley issue you mention) but also to the people living in those areas. That has certainly been the case for the National Forest.
My reservations come in part from the fact that an existing 2015 manifesto pledge to plant 11 million trees by 2020 is falling just a tad behind(1.4mill planted to date!), planting has already been hit by grant funding decreasing/disappearing, and there is doubt as to whether planting is even keeping up with what is currently being lost.
It does I suppose have the advantage over the similar scenario in housebuilding in that the actual planting won't be at the behest of big business say-so....

[oddoneout]

This forest will be in the Midlands

So I presume you mean it is to keep non-desirables out of the North!

I beg to differ. The M62 corridor, which is the proposed location, isn't really the Midlands.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

This forest will be in the Midlands

At the risk of missing a joke (which I think I am because of the ): tree cover along a belt spanning Manchester, Leeds and Bradford.

So I presume you mean it is to keep non-desirables out of the North!

You might think that, OG; you might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I beg to differ. The M62 corridor, which is the proposed location, isn't really the Midlands.

It depends on your post of view. The "middle" of the United Kingdom is somewhere in Morecambe Bay. The middle of Great Britain is a little further east in the Forest of Bowland.

Of course, Londoners think it's on Waterloo Bridge.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I wonder whether the money for this (very worthwhile) project has been obtained by cancelling the Trans-Pennine rail electrification .

[oddoneout]

I wonder whether the money for this (very worthwhile) project has been obtained by cancelling the Trans-Pennine rail electrification .

Quite possibly, but officially they are growing it on that oh-so-useful Money Tree(what they're not planting enough of)

[oddoneout]

Of course, Londoners think it's on Waterloo Bridge.

Well obviously, if the North starts at Watford Gap.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well obviously, if the North starts at Watford Gap.

The North never did start at Watford Gap. It started at Watford. Until the M1 was built, no-one had heard of of the minuscule village of Watford Gap.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Quite possibly, but officially they are growing it on that oh-so-useful Money Tree(what they're not planting enough of)

Maybe that's the kind of the they're planting between Liverpool and Hull. It would be very useful.

[Old Grumpy]

Spot on, Alpie. Haltwhistle (not far from Grumpy Grange) is the self styled Centre of Britain, the gravitational centre of Great Britain is indeed, as you observe, in the Forest of Bowland.

Ferney - your desmene is not obvious to me, but if Northumberland is in the North of England then, the M62 corridor is at most the North Midlands:TIC:

OG

[cloughie]

Spot on, Alpie. Haltwhistle (not far from Grumpy Grange) is the self styled Centre of Britain, the gravitational centre of Great Britain is indeed, as you observe, in the Forest of Bowland.

Ferny - your desmene is not obvious to me, but if Northumberland is in the North of England then, the M62 corridor is at most the North Midlands:TIC:

OG

Some people do talk geographical twaddle!

[Old Grumpy]

Some people do talk geographical twaddle!

Indeed! Must be the (Scotsch) whisky talking...

[Lat-Literal]

In general terms planting trees is A Good Thing(there are exceptions) and where the proposed schemes come to fruition they will doubtless bring benefit not only to the environment(possibly including the specific Calder Valley issue you mention) but also to the people living in those areas. That has certainly been the case for the National Forest.
My reservations come in part from the fact that an existing 2015 manifesto pledge to plant 11 million trees by 2020 is falling just a tad behind(1.4mill planted to date!), planting has already been hit by grant funding decreasing/disappearing, and there is doubt as to whether planting is even keeping up with what is currently being lost.
It does I suppose have the advantage over the similar scenario in housebuilding in that the actual planting won't be at the behest of big business say-so....

The London Mayor promised 2m new trees for Greater London by 2020 but now he says it will be 420,000 by 2025. Not one has been planted. The Northern Forest is to be welcomed but what the Government is proposing to provide in the way of money is just a drop in the ocean. Additionally, the news should have been accompanied by assurances that we will not import the sort of trees under which nothing grows - as was done in many parts of Kielder - or those which will bring a further risk of diseases into this country such as ash dieback.

[ardcarp]

The London Mayor promised 2m new trees for Greater London by 2020 but now he says it will be 420,000 by 2025.

...which suggests that, continuing the mathematical sequence, there will still be 0 by 2030.