New Tree Planting, Send in your ideas
Conservative Surrey County Council has made a commitment to facilitate the planting of 1.2M new trees over the next 10 years as part of their Climate Change Strategy.
Trees not only capture carbon dioxide and mitigate climate change, but also provide a number of benefit such as improving air quality, provide shade during heatwaves & reduce impacts of flash flooding.
Tree planting season will be starting in October and will last for approximately six months, during this time it is SCC's intention to increase tree planting and, where appropriate, along areas of Surrey's highways.
Your County Councillors would be interested in your suggestions of where new trees could be located within your area.
The SCC Environment team has a small revenue budget which can be used to cover the cost of planting, however some County Councillors are also putting in a proportion of their Member Community Allocation as this will enable the planting of more trees.
SCC will also need to ensure there is funding available to cover the cost of tree maintenance (such as watering) for the first few years, to increase their chance of survival but if there are any volunteers in your area that can help this would be brilliant, just let us know
Please email the local officer at [email protected] with your suggestions and any offers of help.
Some points to bear in mind are as follows:
1. Officers with relevant expertise will choose best species. General principals are that the size of the tree should be in proportion with the size of the space, and some trees are no longer viable due to endemic diseases or infestations.
2. Grass verges need to be at least a metre wide
3. Pavements with no verges need to be at least 2.7m wide (to be able to construct new tree pits).
4. Highways officers will need to check:
- underground and overhead utility pipes / cables / etc
- visibility to & from junctions, pedestrian crossings, driveways etc
- support from neighbouring residents (with agreement to water new trees preferred).
5. We need to get the right trees in the right places, and may be unable to plant replacement trees in some locations, due to changes e.g. in Highways design standards, density of utility services, etc.
