A year of trees

The Local Authority Treescapes Fund (LATF) supports local authority-led tree planting and natural colonisation of trees outside woodland areas. This means planting may take place in areas where some greenery is already established such as parks, riverbanks and copses but will also include areas where no woodland currently exists such as smaller green areas alongside roads and footpaths.

The fund targets areas where new growth is needed including areas which have been damaged in the past or expected to decline in the future as well as vacant community spaces and areas affected by tree diseases such as ash die back. This is particularly beneficial as ash is one of the most common species of tree found in non-woodland locations.

It also aims to improve landscape connectivity outside of woodland, creating improved green corridors with the added benefits of carbon absorption, flood protection and support for biodiversity.

The funding will not only provide cash for 365 trees but also their aftercare and maintenance for three years.

Councillor Damian Corfield, cabinet member for highways and environmental services, said:

As a council we continue to invest in tree planting. Last year saw an investment of £50,000 to increase tree coverage across the borough as well as planting thousands of trees for the Queen’s Green Canopy project and five Tiny Forests in partnership with friends groups and Severn Trent Water.

This additional funding bid could see us planting and maintaining an additional 365 trees, one for each day of the year and I look forward to hearing the outcome.

If the bid is successful then the plan will be to focus planting in wards which have the lowest canopy coverage and which score highly on the national index of multiple deprivation.

The bid process and assessment takes around six months, so if successful, trees could be planted by spring 2024.