£250,000 investment proposed to continue new tree planting boom in Harlow
Communities / Thu 27th Jan 2022 at 08:51am
HARLOW Council is set to invest £250,000 in planting and maintaining new trees across the town over the next 3 years.
The announcement is part of the council’s budget proposals unveiled last week and follows a community tree planting event held on Sunday (23 January 2022) where a team of around 60 people planted 800 trees on the Helipad on Second Avenue. A further 50 trees were planted this morning on the site by council staff and 2 greenteam volunteers bringing the total number to 850 trees.
On Sunday residents, councillors and local beaver and scout groups planted trees together as the council closes in on its target of planting 2,000 trees before March 2022.
A further community tree planting event is to be held on Sunday 6 February on land near Passmores House where a further 600 trees will be planted.
The current tree planting programme is being funded the government’s Local Authority Treescape Fund and every tree planted will be supported by a three year maintenance programme.
Councillor Nicky Purse, cabinet portfolio holder for environment, who attended Sunday’s event, has welcomed the proposed further tree planting investment, she said: “Sunday was a brilliant day for our new improved programme of community tree planting. It was great to see families and people of all ages working together toimprove the environment and combat the effects of climate change.
“It is such a special occasion for local families to be involved in and with our proposed £250,000 investment we will continue this programme into the future and spread it out to other areas in the town where it is suitable to plant trees. I would like to thank council staff for organising such a great day and give special thanks to the local scouts for their help.
“We are getting on with the job of improving the environment for future generations, building back greener and restoring pride in our local environment.”
The council is proposing to spend a total of £6.4m on improving landscaping and the environment. This includes funding services which maintain landscaping across the town, including existing trees, and carry out street cleaning. The investment also includes £250,000 to support further tree planting over the next three years.
Neil Warner-Baker
2022-01-27 10:44:07
This is a lovely bit of news and from the video I feel that cllr Nicky Purse is genuinely immersing herself in this exciting endeavour I hope that the Council see the benefits of retaining our existing woodlands and use their influence to reject the imminent EASTERN STORT CROSSING planning application to bulldoze the woodland alongside the River Stort, off Riverway, to make way for a highway and huge roundabout that would cross the River to Hertfordshire.Currently the ste is protected as it is within the GREEN BELT, It is part of HARLOW TOWN PARK and part of 3 VALLEYS WALK.This woodland contains many Veteran trees including Oaks and a Magnificant Lime tree that is close to 2 metres wide and at least 400 years old. Endangered and protected species including Otters and watervoles have been sighted here. Let's hope we can SAVE OUR STORT
matt
2022-01-27 16:34:39
that area in the summer is full of students playing sport and haveing their lunch where do they go now why do we need more trees in harlow the council dont look after the trees they have
Nicholas Taylor
2022-01-27 17:24:43
Readers may remember that The Harlow Alliance Party managed to persuade the Planning Inspector to remove 6 green areas from the proposed Harlow Development Local Plan, one of which was in Jocelyns. During the discussion which took place, he asked why children could not go and play on the green area between East Park and the A414 nearby. Fortunately he agreed with the 'argument' that this was to far away for them to do so. The Council have now planted a large number of trees on that land which will hopefully mean that it, together with the site in Jocelyns will never be built on. Likewise for the site in this article. The developers attending the Epping Forest DC Local Plan hearings said that Harlow had plenty of green spaces to build homes on, a sure sign that such areas will come under the spotlight again. The tree planting programme thus helps protect the environment in two ways. In the meantime will are awaiting the Councils proposed tree maintenance programme, concern for many home owners.
K
2022-01-27 17:51:23
Why do we want more trees and bushes definitely by the horses fields they are full of cans and bottles I litter pick and can’t get the trash out it doesn’t look very nice 9 bags of rubbish was collected in a 1 minute walk along the cycle track over the weekend Harlow residents should be ashamed of themselves
Angela
2022-01-27 18:30:17
I echo a point further above in relation to planting vs. destruction of existing trees and woodland. We have ancient woodland which is at risk at the site of the proposed Stort Crossing (intended to connect Harlow to the new Gilston housing estates). Ancient woodland is never replaceable. We have to cherish and nurture what we’ve got as part of the battle against climate change and the global collapse of biodiversity, both of which are (sadly) thoroughly underway.
Angela
2022-01-27 18:36:21
In response to the comment about litter in the hedges - I would argue that the root cause is littering behaviour and packaging. The answer is not to minimise wildlife habitat so that litter can accumulate in human landscapes instead.
novoman
2022-01-27 21:26:25
Ancient and mature woodland was defined in the Lord's Amendment debate on the Environment Bill as irreplaceable. The ancient trees, heritage sites and the vastly and more efficient carbon capture and habits in the flood plain and the highly significant and valuable green corridor that is the Stort River Valley must be protected at all costs. The Eastern crossing and loss of flood plain at the central crossing must be stopped. The town's proposed sustainable corridors aren't planners need to "go back to the drawing board " The Stort Valley needs to be protected as a region green park and joined to the Lee River Valley regional park. Planting saplings and whips is nowhere near as valuable for biodiversity, carbon capture and shouldn't be used as a smoke screen by Harlow Council and the ravenous developers to mask the damage they have already started by cutting down valuable trees. More thought needs to be given to planting if the publicity picture is typical of what's being done. Planting many trees of one type over a large area has been shown to be less effective in many ways than planting many micro woods that are mixes of native species with wildflower meadows has been shown to be far better. The idea of fencing off woods employed when Harlow was young should be copied for new plantings and within established woods that are now being decimated by far too enthusiastic clearance of undergrowth and too much pedestrian passage through them.
Kim Oconnor
2022-01-29 10:17:53
Planting tree's is all ways good. Whist failing to tell people what your really doing. Ripping our green belt up in abundance. It's all well an good, looking to be seen Planting new tree's. Tell the people the truth. SAVE OUR BEAUTIFUL RIVER STORT.
David Forman
2022-01-31 10:20:56
I think the job title Cllr Nicky Purse was trying to think of was a Clerk of Works.
9 Comments for £250,000 investment proposed to continue new tree planting boom in Harlow: