A total of 30,400 trees were given away in just one day this week in a bid to encourage more tree planting across Leicestershire.
Community groups, parish councils, schools, landowners and farmers went along to Beaumanor Hall near Loughborough on Wednesday 27 November to pick up their free tree packs, in a tree giveaway run by Leicestershire County Council in partnership with the Woodland Trust.
Picture credit: Leicestershire County Council
The free tree and hedgerow packs are designed to help renew and restore existing woodland and vegetation, as well as replacing trees which have been affected by diseases such as ash dieback.
Each free tree pack includes 50 native tree saplings – a mix of oak, wild cherry, crab apple, field maple and hazel, as well as tree guards and stakes. The hedgerow packs are made up of 250 native trees and shrubs, including a mix of hawthorn, hazel, field maple and oaks to plant at regular intervals along the hedgerow. Each hedgerow pack is enough to create a 50m-long hedge at five plants per metre.
They were offered to anyone living in Leicestershire with suitable areas of land to plant – including community groups, parish councils and schools, as well as landowners and farmers. Eligible applicants were invited to register for their free tree and hedgerow packs, in a bid to help the county council plant 700,000 trees – one for every person in Leicestershire.
This year, the county council is hoping to give away more than 50,000 trees from this and other similar schemes.
Councillor Blake Pain, cabinet member for the environment and the green agenda, said: “We’re delighted to be working with the Woodland Trust again this year, to provide free trees and hedgerows to anyone with a suitable piece of land that is accessible to the public.
“Trees are a vital part of our ecosystems, and have a have an important role to play in keeping our air clean, helping to prevent flooding and providing valuable habitats for local wildlife.
“Every one of the groups and individuals who signed up for the scheme and collected trees to plant in their communities is playing a crucial part in helping to make Leicestershire a cleaner, greener place to live, work and visit.”
