Plans to plant tree for every person living in Warwick district are 'on track'

Ambitious plans to plant a tree for every person living in Warwick district are on track according to the leader of the council.
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Just days before National Tree Week, Cllr Andrew Day (Con Bishop’s Tachbrook) told this week’s [WED] full council meeting that plenty had been going on behind the scenes.

He explained: “I know that Tree Week from November 25 is probably etched in your diary but the reason it is significant is that it is a moment to think ahead 12 months to the next Tree Week.

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“In the last six months we - myself and the chief executive - have been working and meeting all sorts of potential partners for our tree programme and it has been really interesting how many other organisations are very, very interested in planting trees, including those with money.

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“We have met with the Woodland Trust, Severn Trent, the National Farmers Union and of course the Warwick tree wardens but there are also a number of major grant funders as far as trees are concerned.

“When it comes to planting 160,000 trees, each of which by the way represents one tonne of carbon over its life, that is a significant amount of carbon and it’s what we need to do if we are to meet our objectives.”

When elected leader back in May Cllr Day said he wanted the district to become carbon neutral by working with partners such as the Woodland Trust to plant one new tree for each of the soon to be 160,000 residents over the next four years.

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And at this week’s meeting he outlined some of the funding opportunities,

He said: “ HS2 will be funding replacement trees lost - of which there are quite a few - through the HS2 programme. The National Lottery has launched a major climate action fund and we also have the woodland creation grant and the woodland carbon fund among many others.

“This first six months like any major project has been about doing our research and finding out what our partners can contribute so that we can create a cohesive plan across the land that we own and the land that we will need to obtain to deliver our 160,000 trees.”