TREE PLANTING
Community pulls together for tree planting
R
ESIDENTS across the borough have been joining in on a tree planting initiative. Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council s Green Team have launched their Newcastle in Bloom Plant a Bloomin Tree initiative by holding two special events recently. In the first event, schoolchildren planted 30 British native trees to mark the number of years that the borough has been involved in the Britain in Bloom campaign. This activity also aligned with the council s Urban Tree Planting Strategy and supported the council s aim to create carboncapture green spaces to help mitigate the effects of climate change and to become a carbon neutral council by 2030. Cabinet member for Leisure, Culture and Heritage, Jill Waring, said: This is a great initiative which is close to my heart. We will be following these events up in this year s Britain in Bloom campaign, where the theme will be all around trees, and the council s Green Team will be working in partnership with the Queen s Green Canopy for the Platinum Jubilee in 2022 Plant a tree for the Jubilee . The aim is to give every primary school in the borough the opportunity to be involved in tree planting, whether it is independently in their own school grounds or co-ordinated with us on council land. We will also be encouraging community groups and borough residents to plant trees in their own community spaces and gardens.
The first event took place at Newchapel Recreation Ground. The Mayor of Newcastle, Ken Owen, attended along with councillor Waring and 15 British native trees were planted with the help of children from Thursfield Primary School. The second event took place at Sandy Lane POS, where the Mayor was in attendance once again, along with the leader of the borough council, Simon Tagg. Again, 15 British native trees were planted. The trees planted at both events were a selection of field maple, silver birch, hawthorn, cherry, rowan, alder and oak. By 2023 the council aims to have planted at least 850 trees throughout the borough to link with the 850th anniversary of the Newcastle Charter. There will be a Tree-totalizer on the
council s website where the number of trees planted will be recorded, along with their location, as the campaign evolves. The council s Green Team will soon be planting native trees or orchards at a small number of sites in the borough as part of the first phase of the Urban Tree Planting Strategy. For further information about this project, go online to: www.newcastle-staffs.gov.uk. Newcastle Life Issue 33 21
