RBC plant over 15,000 trees and shrubs to create Rushcliffe Woods
Last updated: 2/6/2026
Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) has planted over 15,000 trees and shrubs to offset carbon from its operations and keep it on track to be carbon neutral by 2030.
It has now transformed 54 acres or 30 football sized pitches of land in Upper Broughton to create Rushcliffe Woods, offsetting over 230 tonnes of carbon a year.
Partners met to see progress on the site that will also include meadows and wetlands with the thousands of native broadland trees funded by grant applications and planted by Greenwood Community Forest.
The project will offset 64% of the Council’s current carbon output or 16 houses worth of carbon annually and plant trees supplied by partners Greenwood Community Forest, also in partnership with Defra and the Foresty Commission.
It has also given the village its first publicly accessible larger green space and assists with the Forestry Commission’s target to increase tree cover by two per cent in England to 16.5% by 2050.
Leader of RBC Cllr Neil Clarke said: “An astonishing 15,000 trees and hedges have now been planted as we look to offset even more carbon from our day to day operations.
“We’re one of just a handful of councils nationally with a project of this nature on this scale and it’s testament to our ongoing commitment to our environmental priorities.
“We’re proud of this site and another in Kinoulton at Wolds Woods where similarly we are planting thousands of trees and in total over 40,000 will be in place by the end of the summer.
“Since 2020 our Carbon Clever project has made significant inroads into lowering carbon output. We invested over £5m in measures at leisure centres in Cotgrave and Keyworth last year and now over 90% of our vehicle fleet running on electric or vegetable oil.
“We hope planting these thousands of trees and shrubs can be another way to highlight to organisations and businesses how to explore ways to offset their carbon operations and assist all the Borough to be carbon neutral by 2050.
“It’s also a key way to promote nature recovery and tree canopy coverage to also help us as a Borough meet our climate and ecological objectives.”
The site is also identified within the new Nottinghamshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy as an area that could become of particular importance for nature recovery.
Greenwood Community Forest’s Woodland Creation Officer Rachael Rickell said: “Since 2020 Greenwood Community Forest have supported landowners by offering grants to plant trees funded by the Defra Trees for Climate programme.
“We were very pleased to support Rushcliffe Borough Council in their aspirations to create this new woodland in conjunction with RSK Countryside Management.
“We have to date supported over 230 schemes and planted over 800,000 trees, creating 660 hectares of new woodland.”