An Introduction to Shocott Spring - Bedfordshire
Shocott Spring, its name derived due to its mid-distance between Cotton End and Shortstown is one of a number of new woodlands being planted by The Forest of Marston Vale. The Forest of Marston Vale is one of 12 Community Forests set up by the Government to achieve major environmental improvements around towns and cities and to help with regeneration and sustainability over a 40-year period. You can read more about other Community Forests around the UK and see how you can support them here.
Covering 128 acres (52 hectares) the aim of the project is to establish a multi-purpose woodland green space for informal recreation for a growing local population. To provide new habitats for wildlife, which in turn has a positive impact on the local landscape, and provides a small-scale source of coppice and timber in the future.
Shocott Spring woodland is primarily broadleaf (with some areas of conifer nurse), designed in accordance with FC Community Woodland Design Guidelines. The woodland incorporates surfaced forest tracks, information boards, picnic tables, and benches; together with sizeable open spaces to encourage public use and enjoyment of the site.
For those not familiar with the region, across the road, you will find the Cardington Sheds, famous for housing the R101 airship which crashed on its maiden voyage back in 1930. In recent years the sheds have been used as film sets for many blockbuster movies and pop stars rehearsing for world tours. You can read more about the history of the sheds here.
Planting at Shocott Spring began back in 2005 and was home to the Forest of Marston Vales’ ONE-millionth tree. By 2011, the first stage of planting was completed and in total, over 82,000 trees have been planted on the site.
Current figures for the Woodland include:
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Project duration 100 (years)
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Total predicted Carbon sequestration over project lifetime 15005 tCO2e
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Predicted claimable Carbon sequestration over project lifetime 12154 tCO2e
As part of our 5-year partnership with the Forest of Marston Vale, a further 500 trees per year will be planted alongside our investment in PIU’s. In simple terms, PUI’s are an investment in our future. The Woodland code describes them as:
A Pending Issuance Unit (PIU) is effectively a 'promise to deliver' a Woodland Carbon Unit in the future, based on predicted sequestration. It is not 'guaranteed', and cannot be used to report against UK-based emissions until verified and converted to a Woodland Carbon Unit (WCU).
Midas is located just 3.2m from Shocott Spring and not only does this partnership enables Midas to become carbon net-zero, it also helps mitigate ALL embodied Carbon within our polyurethane mouldings and associated tooling.
From just 3.6% tree coverage in 1990 to over 15% in 2015, success is happening in The Forest of Marston Vale but to achieve the target of 30% tree cover, a further 5 MILLION trees need to be planted. Each tree costs around £20 to plant and manage, over a 5 year period and you can support these efforts by donating and becoming Friends of the Forest.
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