New National Forest - North and Midlands
The North or Midlands are set to benefit from being the location of England’s third new national forest. This forest will be transformative, providing significant economic, environmental, and social benefits. Defra is now inviting organisations outside of central government or its Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) to submit a proposal to act as a delivery partner.
- Opening date:
- Closing date:
Contents
Summary
Background
The government has made a manifesto commitment to create three new national forests (NNFs) to be delivered in England by the end of Parliament. The first of these NNFs – the Western Forest – was launched in March 2025 in South-West England
This NNF3 Competition is the second of two new competitions to deliver the remaining two NNFs within England. The first of these competitions, which recently closed, is to deliver a NNF within the Oxford-Cambridge (OxCam) Growth Corridor.
The third new national forest will be located in England’s North or Midlands. The focus of the third new national forest will be on tackling local health inequalities, and the design of NNF3 will be focused on principles of health deprivation reduction.
This forest will be transformative, providing significant economic, environmental, and social benefits. Defra is now inviting organisations outside of central government or its Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) to submit a proposal for a Delivery Partner.
Scope/Aim
There is potential to make a significant positive impact through this new national forest, which aims to deliver the following outcomes:
· Transformative change: The new national forest will demonstrate how trees and woodlands can transform a landscape, with positive benefits for wildlife, local communities and business.
· Landscape-scale delivery: The new national forest will be delivered across a defined landscape (or landscapes) to create a sense of place and demonstrate the impact of tree planting in the long term.
· Biodiversity recovery: The new national forest will drive significant increases in the cover of wildlife habitats and promote effective management of existing habitats, contributing to targets set out in the Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 (EIP).
· Growth potential: The new national forest will harness growth through the planning system to support the creation and integration of forest habitats within new development, and to fund wider improvements to green and blue infrastructure within the forest. The new national forest will also develop and test models of leveraging private investment into its delivery for people and nature.
· Social benefits: The new national forest will increase access to nature and improve the health, wellbeing and skills of a significant population, particularly those in areas experiencing significant levels of deprivation.
· National purpose: The new national forest will demonstrate a national purpose in its rationale for transformation that can be repeated elsewhere, influence policy, or impact wider society (e.g. economic regeneration, landscape restoration, new towns).
The competition aims to award to a single applicant who will collaborate with the National Forest Company (NFC) in the development of the detailed project plan and strategy for the new national forest and then serve as the lead delivery partner. The NFC will act as the grant manager and strategic lead for the project on behalf of Defra, which acts as the grant sponsor. Throughout this process, the successful applicant will be expected to work closely with the grant manager, the NFC.
Eligibility
Applicants for the competitive process will be expected to demonstrate that they have the capacity, experience, capability and knowledge to deliver the outcomes of the new national forest.
The eligibility criteria for suitable organisations are:
Evidence of organisational status: Applicants, whether applying individually or as part of a wider consortium, must be a registered public, charitable or private organisation.
Leadership, advocacy and strategy: Have skills and expertise in leadership and strategy for major programmes of similar complexity, including organisational resilience, scale and track record.
Experience of successful woodland creation projects at scale: Have demonstrable experience of successfully delivering public benefit through woodland creation at a landscape scale, including the administration of grant schemes, support to partners, and detailed reporting.
Partner and community engagement experience: Have demonstrable knowledge of and active engagement with senior partners and communities. This will include having credibility, trust and networks with key partners, politicians and institutions to support delivery, convene groups and communicate ambitions.
Planning and private finance experience: Have a proven understanding of and track record of engagement with the planning system and private finance sectors to support significant funding for and delivery of tree planting and establishment schemes.
Financial solvency evidence: Proven long-term financial solvency, with a demonstrable net income surplus for the last three financial years and the ability to manage cash flows.
Objectives
The chosen delivery partners will then be expected to collaborate with the National Forest Company and Defra to develop plans for a new national forest that will have:
· Governance: To identify a suitable governance and partnership model for delivery involving appropriate organisations, political and community support.
· Appropriate Scale: To select a delivery area of 200–600 square miles (c.50k–150k hectares). This is considered small enough to align with an existing geography and also demonstrate the impact of tree planting. It is also large enough to be transformative and have an impact on tree planting (and other national) targets in the long term.
· Transformative Potential: The new national forest will demonstrate how trees and woodlands can transform a landscape, with positive benefits for wildlife, local communities and business.
· Growth Potential: To ensure alignment with local plans for economic growth and development that can benefit from and contribute to woodland creation, where planning policies can be tailored to deliver forest creation alongside growth.
· Social Benefits: To identify opportunities to improve the lives of a significant population within and immediately outside its boundary. In particular, to demonstrate the presence of communities who will particularly benefit from a new national forest through access to nature, recreation, education, job creation and volunteering.
· National Purpose: To develop the narrative and national showcase for how growth and environmental improvement can be integrated on a landscape-scale. The NNF will make significant contributions to national targets (e.g. EIP) and will demonstrate a national purpose in its function, providing models for innovation that can be repeated elsewhere in the country and beyond.
· Delivery Programme: To develop, agree and deliver a programme for the forest including use of funding, targets, monitoring and impact.
Dates
Stage 1
Invitation to Apply (ITA) Open - 26 May 2026
Deadline for clarification questions from Applicants - 23 June 2026 17:00 BST
Deadline for submission of Stage 1 Application - 7 July 2026 17:00 BST
Evaluation of Stage 1 Applications - 10 July 2026 to 27 July 2026
Stage 1 outcome letters issued - 28 July 2026
Stage 2a
Stage 2a launched - 04 August 2026
Deadline for clarification questions from Stage 2a Applicants - 08 September 2026
Deadline for Stage 2a submissions - 29 September 2026
Evaluation of Stage 2a submissions - 01 October 2026 to 18 October 2026
Stage 2a outcome letters and request for interviews issued - 19 October 2026
Stage 2b
Arrangement of site visits and other logistics Date w/c 18 October 2026
Site visits and interview period (expected to run approximately three weeks) w/c 26 October 2026
Stage 2b outcome letters and funding award notification - 17 November 2026
How to apply
Apply via Defra e-Sourcing platform: Welcome
Supporting information
Government announcement of the Western Forest (the first new national forest) can be found here: Government to plant first National Forest in 30 years - GOV.UK
Government announcement of the new national forest in the North and Midlands can be found here: Nation to benefit from two new national forests backed by £1 billion investment in tree planting - GOV.UK