FOREST of Burnley bosses are offering the deal of the decade to landowners willing to help them meet their target to plant a million trees.

They will provide trees for anyone willing to provide at least a quarter of an acre of land for the £3.6million Forest project, plant the saplings and manage them for the next 10 years.

"It is an exceptionally good offer and we hope people will join the scheme," said Burnley council's project officer Simon Goff.

"We will also organise a Tree Spree later this year to enable householders to plant trees in their gardens," he added.

The moves come as it was revealed the Forest Project has been stumped in one of its two major tree planting schemes.

Government environmental agency English Nature has objected to plans to plant on up to 150 acres of North West Water land at Worsthorne, close to reservoirs.

The agency, responsibile for nature conservation, says the site, part of the mammoth South Pennines Special Protected Area, is an important bird habitat which would be damaged by planting. Forest of Burnley managers hope to negotiate with English Nature, which has the last word on the issue, but even if agreement is reached, the site will be much smaller than the £250,000 scheme originally proposed. That would mean the Forest project not meeting its one million planting target by the end of next year.

Mr Goff says the Forest project is more hopeful of getting the go-ahead for the biggest single scheme - planting 250 acres on a 460 acre site at Dunnockshaw.

Managers have spent £20,000 drawing up a major study on the impact the scheme would have on wildlife and the environment, including widespread consultation with bodies such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Forestry Commission.

The £600,000 scheme, which includes the creation of 20 kilometres of footpaths, car parking, picnic sites and improved recreational facilities, needs Woodland Grant support and a decision is expected later this month, says Mr Goff.

The Forest scheme, which has already had £1.7million grant support from the Lottery Millennium Fund, has so far planted 275 acres of land - a quarter of a million trees.

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