A new forest or money for the NHS?

A lovely bluebell wood at Snakeshill.

Snakeshill Wood? Perfect! Know it well. It’s not very big though, perhaps by the time I snuff it they’ll have taken over more!

Stake your claim before you snuff it, and tell your family.
They can buy more later.
I think it's £250 for a quarter acre, £500 for half.
It's got over 15.5 acres, so wherever you are on the map you should be able to find it easily.

I used to live about half a mile away!

I fear this Northern Forest project thingy will simply turn into an enormous tax break for the already enormously well-off......

Oh, like the Scottish tree-planting tax-avoidance schemes Margs?

I don't think it can if run by the Woodland Trust.

We lived at Stalham for a few years in the 70s, Nfk. I don't think there was a Woodland Trust then.

The Woodland Trust was formed in 1972.

Old Meg. Didn't we used to be the third wealthiest country in Europe?

Then the fourth.

Then the fifth.

Now the sixth?

I am not trying to provoke a political argument on this thread but within a few years, it's rather sad how 'we' are in an obvious decline....

It looks like the Woodland Trust has come up with the perfect way of getting people to invest in the landscape. The things on offer seem so 'right'. I had heard of it, but not looked at the website before. Clever marketing, very appropriate.

They will invest more when they have a personal connection than when merely exhorted that they "ought" to do it. They will care more what happens to those woodlands too.

I live in a new town and the design includes lots of wooded areas that link up so that everyone has some trees and open space nearby. Plans for expansion also always include provision for green and wooded areas. On the other hand the local library, which is a social hub for all ages from a ‘knit and natter’ group to tots story telling, and after scool drop in on the way home, is closing, and the main one, a bus ride away for most people, is only being kept going by volunteers.

Forests bring many benefits, both health-wise and to encourage wildlife, for us AND future generations. In a world that is rapidly being concreted over which in turn leaves water nowhere to be absorbed, I'd vote for forests every time. The NHS can cut pay at the top, ONLY treat people who have verified health insurance or pay upfront for procedures and stop clogging up A&E with drunks and drug addicts who are neither accidents nor emergencies. They should also stop paying silly money to bank nurses and weekend doctors.

Forest please.Let's leave a lasting legacy for future generations,create wildlife habitats and soak up some carbon.The NHS is a totally separate issue,and yes it's struggling but as someone who has worked within it,and has family that currently does needs an overhaul and restructuring to cut waste,and an acceptance by the public that it can't provide everything free ,endlessly.I'd happily give my bank details and if I failed to turn up for an appointment without notification-which I never would do,but plenty think nothing of it - at either GPs, hospital,physio etc have a small fee deducted.

So anyone who doesn't have health insurance shouldn't be treated by the NHS? Do you really mean that, Gabriella?
My grandad died because they couldn't afford the medication for him, pre-NHS.
That's what the NHS is for, so that everyone is treated FREE at the point of NEED, not just those who can afford the insurance.

Fortunately, there are still some who want to fight for that principle, as Nye Bevan said.

We have a large tract of woodland just down the road from us that belonged to a local stately home. They sold it off last year to a private buyer and since then, although they cannot interfere with the statutory rights of way, there has been an increase in fenced off areas and some of the smaller footpaths that could previously be accessed are now closed. You are basically restricted to two paths. I suppose we should be grateful to be able to access it at all now. We are fortunate that, within this city’s boundaries, as well as it’s many smaller areas of accessible woodland, wooded valleys and nature reserves, we have two major tracts of mature (some of it ancient) woodland - one of some 350 acres and the other of over 400 acres. One is owned and managed by the city council and a partner organisation, and the other by the Woodland Trust. They both have ongoing projects which generate an income stream, but which are sensitively managed to provide enjoyment for all who use the woods.

dj something we can absolutely agree on, and that doesn't happen often!

A health service free to all is one of the underlying principles of our democracy.

As I understand it the trees can be bought privately by people as gifts or for marking birthdays/weddings/funerals - I bought trees in remembrance of my Dad and my husband - better than a bunch of flowers slowly dying on a gravestone I thought. Last time I checked it cost £15 to sponsor a tree planting, not a great deal considering how much a bouquet of flowers costs today

What gets me about the NHS is that it still runs like the miners and Fleet Street did years ago. The Medical people are wonderful but worked to death. The issues are things like six months on full pay and 6 months on half pay if staff are sick. The private sector could not afford it. I don't know their pension details but again I bet the private sector could not afford it. Genetic malingering where people go sick sometimes over minor ailments.

My wife was ill for 10yrs + so I have had many visits to hospital , The problems seem to be on the admin side. eg An Admin office with two staff who shut for lunch because the need to chat over lunch. Uncooperative receptionists who know we cant complain and they cant be sacked, Money wasted on IT systems that get abandoned and administrators who set targets which are checked and found not to be met at some huge admin cost, Car park machines which issue an entry ticket when they could or should know the car park is full. Chief Executives who get sacked paid off and get another identical job in another health authority, HM Gov should sort that first before spending more money. My I feel better now.

@durhamjen

Perhaps I should have made clear that I meant people from the EU (once we're out of it) and overseas 'visitors', NOT people who are UK registered taxpayers.

Monica

Free to ALL. Do you mean worldwide?

*MOnica

Trees are essential. The NHS will spend as much money as we care to give it, while I agree it is a good cause people just take it for granted now.

Trees bring us cleaner air and we have to plant them now for the future.

We need both.

The whole world needs more trees.

If more people buy trees through the Woodland Trust, then the money the government would have spent on the forest could be given to the NHS.
Every little helps.