Growing the nation's forests
We're planning to create a new 102-hectare woodland near the village of Hagworthingham, on the edge of the scenic Lincolnshire Wolds National Landscape.
Hagworthingham Wood will provide lasting benefits for local people, wildlife, and the climate. It will be planted with a mix of different tree and shrub species to create diverse habitats for wildlife, supporting hedgehogs, bats, woodland birds like woodpeckers, and a wide variety of butterflies and other insects. As the trees mature, they will absorb carbon from the atmosphere, helping to mitigate against the climate crisis. In about 20 years, once the woodland is well established, it will also begin to contribute to the UK's sustainable timber industry.
This is one of many new woodlands we're creating at Forestry England to help grow the nation's forests. The work has been made possible thanks to the government's Trees Programme.
We want to hear from you!
A public consultation for Hagworthingham Wood is open from Wednesday 15 April until midnight on Sunday 17 May 2026. We're inviting local communities, environmental organisations, and other stakeholders to view our draft designs and share their thoughts with us. This will help us shape the final decisions about the new woodland.
Our draft designs include an artist's impression of what the site might look like in 25 years' time and our response to some of the questions already raised by local people, which include queries about access and which tree species we are planning to plant.
New woodlands across Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is currently the least wooded county in the East Midlands, with woodland covering just 4% of land area. This is far below the national average of 14%. We're working hard to increase woodland cover across Lincolnshire, and Hagworthingham Wood is the fifth woodland creation site we've bought in this area since 2024. The other new woodlands are Cadney, North Carlton, Mickleholme and Newball. Together, this means we're creating a total of 965 hectares of new woodland in Lincolnshire.
We're in the early stages of creating our design for the new woodland. Public feedback and surveys will inform our detailed plans for it. Our aim is to create the new woodland over the next couple of years with initial planting beginning in winter 2026/27.
Species we're planning to plant at Hagworthingham Wood may include oak, silver birch, small leaved lime, goat willow, black poplar, hazel, common alder, beech, Scots pine, Corsican pine, hornbeam and wild cherry. We will be planting a mix of broadleaf and conifer trees, often planted together in mixtures, with groups of native shrubs along woodland edges to increase the variety of habitats and provide seasonal colour and texture. This list of potential species is based on thorough surveys of the land, Forestry England's decades of woodland management experience, and the latest climate science, which helps us choose species most suitable for the site now and as the climate changes.
Yes! Once the new woodland has established (ensuring the trees have their best possible start), we will be dedicating the site under the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act. It is intended to be a quiet, natural space primarily for the local community to enjoy and spend time in nature, which is why we have no current plans to create a car park or any visitor infrastructure, including any surfaced trails or horse-riding specific infrastructure.
The new woodland can be easily reached from the village of Hagworthingham using the existing public footpath from Harrington Road to the north of the site. Once there, a network of new grass routes will give access for woodland maintenance and for people to explore the new woodland.
