About

The plan area includes 13 woodlands covering 875 hectares across the three counties of Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex. The plan area is made up of a mixture of Freehold and leasehold land, the majority of which is ancient woodland. 

There are two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) within the plan area including Chalkney and Lineage:

Chalkney wood SSSI designated in 1955 totals 74ha, of which 48ha is managed by FE in the north and 26ha by Essex County Council in the south. The notification is predominantly for the natural distribution of Small leaved lime and Hornbeam plus the sites large assemblage of wet flush bryophytes. The broadleaved, lowland mixed woodland of National Vegetation Class W7, W8 and W10 supports notified species. 

Lineage Wood and Railway Track SSSI designated in 1971 totals 81ha of which 71ha lies within FE managed woodland. The features of conservation interest include: floristically rich neutral grassland and calcareous grassland. Grass rides and grassland areas within Lineage support a large variety of Orchids and butterflies. There are small remnants of Elm remaining but most lost to Dutch Elm disease. However, Maple – Hazel woodland with Oak standards remains (W8). 

Heritage features are found throughout the forest and there is one Scheduled Monument within the plan area which is a bowl Barrow.

Objectives

The management objectives for Lavenham are:

• gradually revert the woodlands back to broadleaved species – mostly site native but also including sycamore and sweet chestnut in woodlands where they are already present. Reversion will be carried out through clear felling and thinning to favour broadleaved species. 
• restocking to be achieved by natural regeneration, through managing deer browsing pressure.

What we’ll do

The Lavenham plan outlines management proposals including felling and restocking with felling licence approval for operations until May 2019.

The areas of clear felling, selective felling and restocking planned for the 10 years to 2019 are summarised below: