Jun 15 2007
Report says greenspace is helping house prices in depressed areas
SCHEMES to create and regenerate woodlands across the Northwest of England are boosting local economies, according to one of the region’s District Valuers.
And a report into the effects of these green schemes has also revealed they are helping house prices in depressed areas to pick up.
That study, completed in 2005 and carried out by the District Valuer’s Office in Merseyside, confirmed that the creation of woodland on the former colliery and power station at Bold by local environmental organisations Groundwork and The Mersey Forest Partnership together with St Helens MBC has added approximately £15million to the value of nearby properties in a part of St Helens that had suffered from extreme deprivation in the past.
Now, in line with the new ‘Regional Forestry Framework’ (which sets out the vision for woodlands and forestry in the Northwest for the next 20 years) a new report has been commissioned, looking at six recent woodland regeneration projects, which partners in the Framework hope will support the findings of the earlier Bold Colliery study.
Before the mid 1980s, Bold Colliery employed more than 800 local people. The colliery’s closure in 1985 resulted in the loss of hundreds of jobs and created 130 hectares of derelict land. However, as the District Valuer’s study showed, the inspiring initiative to give the land back to the local community by creating a green space has gone on to spearhead a programme of economic regeneration in the area.
Not only did it dramatically enhance the value of existing properties, but the project also contributed to new property developments amounting to £75million of fresh investment in the area.
Importantly, these figures were reached with full consideration of all other factors that could affect house price rises – to ensure that the increase attributed to the woodland development is accurate and unrelated to any other variable.
The District Valuer has now been asked to look at other similar woodland regeneration projects across the region and see if they are having the same positive effects on their communities.
All the sites to be considered in this new report have been developed under the £23million land regeneration scheme, Newlands (a partnership scheme between the Northwest Regional Development Agency and the Forestry Commission). It is as part of the Newlands scheme that this new report has been commissioned.
Newlands is highlighted within the Northwest Regional Forestry Framework – (called ‘Agenda for Growth’) which brings together a broad range of organisations who are all committed to creating and regenerating woodlands and demonstrating their wider socio-economic and environmental value.
There are six ‘Action Areas’ highlighted in the Framework; Newlands, for example, is helping to deliver Action Area Two – ‘Regional Image’, which calls for derelict land to be brought into use as community woodland and bring with it socio-economic benefits. Action Area Six of the Framework – ‘Supporting and Resourcing the Sector’, also links to the recent plans for the District Valuer reports, as one aim of this Action Area is to show how woodlands can carry wider, public benefits.
Keith Jones, Regional Director of the Forestry Commission, one of the organisations behind the Regional Forestry Framework, said: “The Forestry Commission, having together with the District Valuer created the model tested with Bold Colliery, is now going to apply the model to the sites being developed under the Newlands programme as funded by the Northwest Regional Development Agency. We hope that the trends highlighted by research into the St Helens scheme will be repeated.”
Paul Nolan from Mersey Forest, another RFF partner, added: “We’re increasingly being asked to show the real benefits of creating community woodlands. We have always known that the economic value of such areas was there, now these studies will give us the figures to prove our case.”