Following extensive analysis, consultation and development work, the land management plan for Kilpatrick Hills was formally approved in January 2015 and is scheduled for renewal by 2025.

A brief summary of the current plan can be found here (PDF 91KB)

Timescales

• 2012/3 – Site surveys, site analysis, focus groups, development of initial design concept.
• Winter 2013/Spring 2014 – Wide ranging consultation used to inform the development of the initial concept into a detailed land management plan.
• Summer 2014 – Application submitted for formal approval during June.
• Autumn 2014 – Following consultation undertaken during the approval process, the plan was amended and re-submitted for approval.
• January 2015 - Plan formally approved.

Land management plan documents

The scale and complexity of the site required a large amount of information to support the planning process. The main documents covering the plan are:

• Kilpatrick Hills forest design plan (PDF 405KB) - The main document containing the detailed design proposals. 

Maps:

• Location (PDF 3.6MB)
• Felling Phases (PDF 5MB) – Which areas of the existing forest will be felled, and when.
• Proposed Access (PDF 5.8MB) – Where new forest roads will be built.
• Future Species (PDF 5.9MB) – Details of the tree species to be planted.

Supporting documents

• Kilpatrick Hills FDP Appendices I-V (PDF 2.4MB)
  Contains a record of consultations during development of the plan, outlines the framework for accommodating changes to the plan over time, and includes visualisations of how some of the more visible areas of the site may change over time.
• Kilpatrick Hills FDP Appendix VI (PDF 13.6MB) (Please note that this is a large file)
  Contains copies of all survey reports referenced in the plan.
• Kilpatrick Hills FDP Appendix VII (PDF 1.1MB) - Peatland Habitats and Bog Transition Plan.

Additional maps

• Physical site factors (PDF 3.7MB) – Climate and ground conditions.
• Existing forest (PDF 4.9MB) – Existing species, crop ages and yield classes.
• Biodiversity and environmental designations (PDF 5.2MB) – SSSI locations, priority habitats, ancient woodland. 
• Thinnable areas (PDF 1.7MB) – Areas of forest which may be thinned in time (typically thinnings are first carried out 20 years or so after planting).
• Future woodland habitat (PDF 5.6MB) – Native woodland types for future planting.
• Future spacing (PDF 5.5MB) – Indicates how open or dense areas of future planting will be.
• Current and future routes (PDF 5.4MB) – Current and planned recreational routes.

Original design concept

The original design concepts used for consultation were:

• Opportunities and constraints analysis map (3962k)
• Proposed Management Zones (PDF 3194k)
• Design concept map (PDF 3873k)