Tree and Woods Strategy

• planting new trees and woods across the district in our towns, villages and rural areas
• doing this carefully to ensure we enhance the local landscape, benefit our communities and wildlife
• carefully selecting the species and their mix to have a diverse and resilient tree population, protected from some of the worst effects of climate change and diseases

• managing our existing trees and woods to maximise their many benefits and meet our obligations
• protecting our most important trees

This will give the opportunity to review and revise our current practices to ensure we meet current expectations.

To achieve the vision we need to work together. We will work closely with our Parish and Town Council’s identifying planting opportunities and guiding responsible tree care. We will be coordinating the management of WNC-owned trees.

• working proactively to ensure we can maximise external funding opportunities as and when they become available
• introducing methods to ensure suitable and sufficient replacement trees are planted when existing ones have to be removed
• using current funding in the most effective ways to achieve our vision and meet our obligations. Identify any savings or shortfalls

We will:

• report annually on the progress noting our successes and ongoing challenges
• review and revise our practices to learn, improve and share best practice
• conduct a full review and revision of the strategy in year 5

As part of the Councils efforts to reintroduce trees to areas where they have been lost and also to new locations, we need to be careful in our choice of tree.

Planting the right tree in the right place is important if the tree is to thrive and future tree related issues can be avoided.

Highways and trees

In most cases space for highways trees is at a premium and concrete is obviously not a natural environment for a tree. Trees not only filter pollutants but provide us with shade and colour.  When planting highways trees we will be choosing species with much more upright crowns that lesson the chances of property encroachment.

Some of these trees may include:

• Carpinus betulus Frans Fontaine (Upright Hornbeam)
• Ginkgo biloba (Maidenhair Tree)
• Liquidambar styraciflua ‘slender silhouette’
• Acer campestre ‘streetwise’ (Field Maple)
• Prunus Spire (Cherry Blossom)

Housing Trees

Housing areas tend to have more in the way of green space where trees can be planted to break up the urban environment, giving colour and amenity. Depending on location, a mix of trees some with a larger ultimate mature height may be planted where space allows.

Some trees we may consider, include:

• Betula pendula (Silver Birch)
• Liquidambar
• Tillia cordata (Small Leaved Lime)
• Juglans regia (Common Walnut)
• Crataegus monogyna (Hawthorn)

Parks Trees

Our parks are places where we go relax, exercise and meet each other. Many of our parks have large, majestic trees and where appropriate we will plant trees that will attain a significant size when mature.

Some of these trees may include:

• Quercus robur (Pedunculate Oak)
• Fagus sylvatica (Common Beech)
• Platanus orientalis (Oriental Plane)
• Castanea sativa (Sweet Chestnut)
• Quercus rubra (Red Oak)