YORK Community Woodland has won the prestigious John Boddy Award for Forestry, presented at this year’s Great Yorkshire Show.

The award celebrates excellence in forestry creation, design and management in Yorkshire, with this year’s award focusing on the best community woodland planted in Yorkshire over the last 15 years.

York Community Woodland is a project led by City of York Council in partnership with Forestry England, with the goal of establishing an extensive community woodland on a 195-acre plot of land to the west of York.

Owned by the council and developed and managed by Forestry England, the woodland aims to support York’s efforts to tackle the long-term impacts of climate change, increase biodiversity and promote active travel, health and wellbeing.

Councillor Jenny Kent, City of York Council’s joint executive member for environment and climate emergency, said: "It’s great to see the skill and effort of hundreds of local volunteers rewarded."

In February, the project reached the key milestone of planting its 85,000th tree.