Bath and North East Somerset Council's story
We have developed a strategy to increase tree and woodland cover across Bath and North East Somerset. The target to plant 100,000 trees by 2023 reflects political leadership and will help to achieve the ambition of doubling tree cover in the region by 2050, as targeted by the West of England Nature Partnership and the Forest of Avon Plan.
We are working hard to increase tree cover across Bath and North East Somerset in line with the Council's Tree and Woodland Delivery Plan. This is what we're doing to achieve this target:
- Since 2019, we've planted 11,061 new trees. The Ward Councillor Empowerment fund has also been used to plant trees in Clutton, a community orchard in Corston and a community orchard and copse in Freshford.
- We've held free tree giveaways for residents to choose up to three trees to plant in their gardens.
- We've included tree planting in our Keynsham High Street improvements.
- We've worked with the Forest of Avon to plant trees on the Lansdown Escarpment with training and therapeutic horticulture charity, Grow for Life.
Why do we need to plant more trees?
Trees play a key role in combatting the Climate and Ecological emergencies, providing carbon capture, creating habitats and improving ecological mobility which improves biodiversity.
Trees also provide a range of other benefits such as improving air quality, reducing 'Urban Heat Island Effects', flooding risks, and improving our mood.
The Committee on Climate change says the UK needs to plant 1.5 billion trees if it is to meet its pledge to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
What's next?
We will continue our emerging tree and woodland delivery plan which includes the following actions:
- We're planning to plant between 3,300 and 6,000 new trees between October 2021 and March 2022.
- We plan to launch a One Tree Per Child school planting project.
- We'll be holding more free tree giveaways.
- We plan to create a B&NES virtual forest interactive website, which residents can populate with the trees they've planted to create a sense of community action in combatting climate change.
- We'll be monitoring canopy growth to quantify levels of carbon sequestration and capture, and the ecological benefit of the trees.
Useful learnings from Bath and North East Somerset Council
We have identified a clear target of planting 100,000 trees by 2023 as part of the wider ambition to double tree cover in the region by 2050.
Working in partnership with organisations including the West of England Nature Partnership and the Forest of Avon has been beneficial.
We have worked hard to engage with local communities through the Ward Councillor Empowerment Fund and through tree giveaways and sales for residents.
Bath and North East Somerset Council's metrics
Number of trees planted: by October 2022 70,000 trees had been planted. Final figures for the 2022/2023 planting season will be available later this spring but are on track to meet the 100,000 target.
Number of organisations (eg. schools) and individuals involved
