PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
The City of Edinburgh Council, in partnership with the Craigmillar Initiative, applied to the Millennium Forest for Scotland Trust for funding to implement the aims of the Edinburgh Urban Forest Strategy in Craigmillar. The bid was successful and the Craigmillar Project was started that year. In 1996, after this initial success the Council expanded its range of partners and submitted a second application to the Millennium Forest for Scotland Trust to extend the initiative to other areas of Edinburgh identified as lacking in woodland cover. The majority of these areas were also socially and economically deprived.

The key objectives of both Projects were to:

•Enhance and improve the landscape and visual interest of local neighbourhoods
•Provide and expand recreational and amenity resources
•Attract wildlife by creating appropriate habitats
•Create wildlife corridors to link existing woodlands
•Provide an economic resource by creating jobs and training opportunities as well as an attractive location for new business initiatives
•Reduce dust and noise pollution
•Provide shelter and screening to neighbourhoods, schools and recreational areas
•Provide social and cultural resource
Enhance educational opportunities

Site Selection

The Edinburgh Urban Forest Strategy had identified areas in Edinburgh that were lacking in significant woodland/tree cover and it was in these areas that the urban forest projects concentrated their efforts in finding sites for potential community woodlands.

To ensure open access and maximum community benefit, the new woodlands had to be on publicly owned land (golf courses, school grounds, open spaces and public parks). The urban forestry team and the Recreation Department, who will manage the woodlands, selected the most appropriate potential sites; twenty in Craigmillar and over sixty in the rest of Edinburgh.

In the course of future research, some sites were not progressed for a variety of reasons, e.g. underground services and negative community reaction. Elsewhere some planted sites were so heavily vandalised it was reluctantly decided to abandon them and allow them to revert to grass. However, other sites were suggested by local communities and added to the list.