This season has seen the transformation of two more plots into tiny forests at New Road Park, N22 and Paignton Park, N15, co-designed with the Friends’ group for each.
Added to these 1,200 saplings, a record 850 trees have been planted in the borough’s streets, housing estates and parks as part of the council’s impressive Urban Forest Programme.
It brings the total number of trees planted in just three years to over 6,000 as the council moves quickly to reach its target of 10,000 by 2030.
This year 74 per cent of street trees planted are in the east of the borough, where canopy cover is lower.
In April, the council celebrated another special milestone by planting more than 1,000 trees in partnership with the community and Trees for Streets.
Cllr Mike Hakata, Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Environment and Transport, said:
I’m proud that we have once again reached such a high number and want to thank our partners and the community for helping make this possible.
Trees play a vital role in the health and wellbeing of our residents and are key to our vision of building a fairer, greener borough.
We want to increase canopy cover to 30% in all wards and aim to plant thousands more trees as well as doing all we can to protect mature and veteran trees.
Planting trees in the borough’s streets and green spaces helps capture carbon, absorbs air pollution, creates shaded areas and nurtures wildlife.
Biodiversity and climate resilience is also being addressed through a meadow planting programme, the co-produced community green spaces programme, rainwater gardens and other flood management programmes, as well as the work to protect and enhance the borough’s ancient woodlands.
