Growth of the Rewilding Harborough project recognised with an Oak tree

His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire, Mike Kapur Esq. OBE CStJ planted an Oak tree to formally recognise 2025 as the year that work on the project began.  

Invited guests including partners and councillors also witnessed the unveiling of a plaque with the wording:  

Harborough Rewilding Project – ‘This first Oak tree was planted by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire, Mike Kapur Esq. OBE CStJ, on behalf of HM King Charles III to commemorate 2025 as the year of the project’s initiation. 

‘The project reflects Harborough District Council’s commitment to providing public open spaces and a nature recovery legacy for future generations.’ 

The council’s Rewilding Harborough project aims to restore nature on 130 acres of land to the north of Market Harborough and Great Bowden, bringing benefits to wildlife, people and communities. It is a project expected to be of national significance. The council’s purchase has been a catalyst for wider partner involvement which has already brought the total rewilding project to over 500 acres. 

With the support of Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust and other stakeholders, the Rewilding Harborough project has begun to reconnect habitats across the landscape and restore the natural processes to support nature recovery at scale and provide opportunities to bring people closer to nature around them. 

Observation of the land will continue in the new year to build upon baseline ecological work undertaken in 2025 and take cues from nature as previously employed farming practices are reduced. Detailed planning for habitat and infrastructure development will then commence in late 2026 or early 2027.  

Project partners have all committed to this vision for nature recovery, with many already in advanced stages of planning or progressing with habitat restoration and creation projects on their landholdings.   

Cllr Phil Knowles, Leader of Harborough District Council, said: “It was a privilege to welcome the Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire to Market Harborough to plant our Oak tree which marks a major moment in this scheme. Rewilding Harborough is as much about people as it is nature, and I want this project to leave a lasting legacy that everyone can be proud of.”  

Mat Carter, Chief Executive of Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, said: “2025 marks the beginning of an exciting nature recovery journey in South Leicestershire involving several partners with Harborough District Council’s newly acquired land sitting at the heart of the project area. 

“Whilst 2026 will see detailed plans emerging for the land and project partners begin embarking upon delivery of habitat restoration works, the year also represents a significant milestone in the history of the Leicester and Rutland Wildlife Trust which turns 70.  

“I am therefore excited to mark this with our own contribution to the local habitat network with the planting of 22,000 trees in the nearby James Adler Nature Reserve in the New Year, creating 14 hectares of new woodland.”