PLANS for a community woodland in a Ribble Valley village will go before local residents.

The Woodland Trust, the UK's largest conservation charity, wants to buy a 12-acre site in Grindleton to create a woodland for local people.

The scheme will be unveiled at a meeting at the Methodist Chapel Schoolroom on September 22 at 8pm.

Castle Cement's Ribblesdale Works has kick-started the fund-raising appeal to pay for the project with a substantial donation through its landfill tax credit scheme.

Judith Stuttard, of the Trust, said: "We are looking at the possibility of acquiring 12 acres which could be transformed into a wood with free public access, create a brand new wildlife habitat and which would provide local children with an open air classroom.

"We need to know whether local people would support the project and work in partnership with us to launch an appeal to help us in raising the outstanding funds.

"This is a project of great significance to Lancashire, a county with only 2.5 per cent of broadleaf woodland cover, making it one of the least wooded areas of Europe."

If the project gets the green light from the community, local people will be invited to help design the woodland, name it and help plant trees.

It follows a similar scheme, Old Laund Wood, which has been planted in Fence, near Nelson.

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