Twenty five years of creating the Mersey Forest

This opinion reflects on the achievements of and barriers to implementing the Mersey Forest Plan, over the past 25 years. The implementation of the initiative, which operates in a non-statutory arena, is shaped by different pieces of legislation that concern for example, wildlife, contaminated land, landscape, planning and trees, woods and forestry, to name but a few. This opinion argues that the Mersey Forest has been successful and delivered public good (social, economic and environmental benefits) in a number of different areas. It has had to weather the changes to government policy as well as trying to influence it in order to maintain support; and that the initiative it is as important now as it was 25 years ago. It also stresses that the challenges it faces, for example, the ebb and flow of support (whether financial, legislative change, policy and people), that have assisted with the delivery of the plan are likely to continue post-Brexit. Looking forward, it suggests that it may be helpful if some sociolegal research were undertaken which looked at the various pieces of legislation that shape the Mersey Forest’s delivery landscape to see the extent to which it has helped or hindered the delivery of the concept, and to consider what, if any, pieces of existing or new legislation need to be changed to help deliver the concept more effectively.