It has never been more important to plant trees for the future. National Tree Week, which runs from Saturday November 23 until December 1, is the UK’s largest annual tree celebration, marking the start of the winter tree planting season.
Here in North East Lincolnshire, winter tree planting is just getting underway again as part of the Council’s Tree Strategy and its community tree-planting programme – Greening Up Our Place – which began at the beginning of this year when 416 trees were planted right across the borough.
The strategy sets out the Council’s approach for managing and protecting the existing tree population, increasing the number of trees in North East Lincolnshire, and for promoting the significant benefits that trees have in society.
It aims to give the residents of North East Lincolnshire a high quality, sustainable environment, which ties in with the Council’s aim to become Net Zero.
The Tree Strategy is also supported by two successful funding bids to the Forestry Commission’s Local Authority Treescapes Fund (LATF) and Urban Tree Challenge Fund (UTCF), which will continue to be used to support the Council’s tree planting efforts in 2025/26 to improve canopy coverage across North East Lincolnshire. Some boroughs, including East Marsh, West Marsh, Sidney Sussex, Immingham, and Croft Baker have as little as 2% tree coverage.
Winter tree planting has already taken place at Macauley School this month, and will take place at Nunsthorpe on November 26, and Quantock Park, Scartho, on November 28, with the help of invited community groups.
Cllr Henry Hudson, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Net Zero, said: “It’s brilliant to see how many trees have already been planted across the borough. There are so many benefits that trees offer us, not least of which is the effect they have on our efforts to get to net zero by capturing and storing carbon from the atmosphere.
“Everyone in the borough benefits from trees. They help create a sense of place and local identity and have a positive impact on people’s mental and physical health. They create focal points and landmarks, and they benefit communities by increasing pride in the local area.
“I look forward to seeing many more trees being planted this season and the Council will continue to work with partners, local businesses and community groups to increase tree canopy cover across North East Lincolnshire.”
To find out more about Greening Up Our Place visit https://www.nelincs.gov.uk/keeping-our-area-clean-and-safe/tree-planting/
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