Question
Approximately 8 months
ago, supported by a big fanfare of publicity, Cllr Smith
announced a Carbon capture plan, thanks to a £300,000
contribution from the Woodland Trust and an injection
of £350,000 of Council capital borrowing.
The plan requires 250Ha of green space and phase 1 was to set up a
project team including a paid manager, develop a tree strategy,
work with landowners, Parish and Town Councils.
Since the schemes inception in which there seems to be no plan
for replacement trees that die, no real update on progress in
any of the plans initial intention yet at the same time the
Council’s own Planning Department continues to
recommend the removal of TPO trees to facilitate
development.
My question is simply how many of the 250,000 trees have been
planted or agreements made to plant to date?
Minutes:
Question
Approximately 8 months
ago, supported by a big fanfare of publicity, Councillor
Smith announced a Carbon capture plan, thanks to a £300,000
contribution from the Woodland Trust and an injection
of £350,000 of Council capital borrowing.
The plan requires 250Ha of green space and Phase 1 was to set up a
project team including a paid manager, develop a tree strategy,
work with landowners, Parish and Town Councils.
Since the scheme’s inception in which there seems to be
no plan for replacement trees that die, no real update on
progress in any of the plans initial intention yet at the same time
the Council’s own Planning Department continues to
recommend the removal of TPO trees to facilitate
development.
My question is simply how many of the 250,000 trees have been
planted or agreements made to plant to date?
As you are aware, through updates provided at the Trees and Biodiversity Task and Finish Group of which you are a member, a project manager to lead the delivery of the 250,000 tree planting project and Tree Strategy, was recruited in September last year and in the four months since they arrived they have been working to deliver Phase 1 of the business plan. A project of this scale requires significant amount of preliminary feasibility and preparation work, involving stakeholder engagement, land negotiations, consultation, and design work, all before delivery can take place. In the last four months Officers have been focussed upon engaging with numerous landowners including schools, towns and parishes, and other third parties to begin negotiations for large scale planting schemes.
In the meantime, smaller scale planting has taken place already on sites in Woosehill Meadows, Shinfield St Mary’s, Winnersh Community Orchard and Chiltern Drive. To date, 5,651 very precise number of trees have been planted and by March this year we are expecting to have planted a further 2,145 trees on a number of school sites in the Borough. That is a fantastic start in a very short space of time!
Now we are up and running, we will also be accepting applications for the Garden Forest Initiative as part of the tree planting project, whereby residents can apply to the Council for a tree to plant in their gardens. We have received over 631 applications in the first round of the initiative, and the trees will be provided, for residents to plant, in October this year.
Alongside the delivery of the 250,000 tree planting project, Officers will always be working to develop a new Tree Strategy for the Borough. The Tree Strategy will provide improved direction for the tree management and the Authority’s approach across the Borough. It will help the Borough to better understand the value of WBC’s tree assets and provide guidance upon how planting schemes should be undertaken to optimise benefits for carbon sequestration, biodiversity and the local area.
An early engagement survey took place in November 2021, last year, to gather input from stakeholders and residents about some of the key areas that could be covered within the Strategy. This is to be used to assist with the preparation of the Strategy. Following further public consultation on the draft Strategy in 2022, this year the Executive will consider the adoption of the new Tree Strategy in early in 2023.
Supplementary Question
That would appear to be about 10% of the numbers so far identified. With respect to the planting of tress as there seems to be no real plans to build many houses in the north of the Borough, in particular Remenham and Hurst, would it not be just a good idea to sign all remaining tress there so two problems solved? You get trees planted and no houses either and I would call that a win, win.
Supplementary Answer
As you know Gary there are lots of things that you have to look at. That is why a scheme of this size is, as you quite rightly say, it is a massive scheme and yes we are only at the start. I would say, in answer to your question, it all depends on the ground conditions because not all ground conditions will accept trees so it would have to be looked at and considered. But, you also have to consider that the majority of that land would not be in the Council’s ownership so it would be down to the landowner.