Woodland Trust grant to help City get thousands of trees

CARDIFF will get thousands of new trees after a £228,862 grant from an “emergency tree fund” set up by the Woodland Trust.

Trees play a big part in Cardiff council’s One Planet plan to get the city to carbon neutral by 2030, as they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as well as preventing flooding.

Ahead of tree-planting season in the autumn, the council is drawing up major plans to plant thousands of trees across the city and create a “tree nursery” to locally source trees for planting in the future.

The Woodland Trust set up its emergency tree fund last year. The charity plans to give councils a total of £2.9m to help plant trees and create new forests across the country. The grant funding for Cardiff council will help local efforts in the city.

Councillor Peter Bradbury, cabinet member for culture and leisure, said: “Securing this funding from the Woodland Trust gives our plans for a greener Cardiff a real boost – it’s going to make a real difference as we continue working towards our vision for a carbon neutral, One Planet Cardiff.

“Alongside action on other areas such as transport, energy and food, planting more trees is an important part of our strategic response to the climate crisis. This funding will help us do that. But it’s more than just a numbers game, it’s also about planting the right trees in the right places. That’s why, as well as significantly increasing the number of trees we plant, we’ll also be using some of this funding to help establish a tree nursery to secure a stock of locally grown, native trees.”

Last October, the council revealed its wide-ranging plan to cut Cardiff’s carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2030. Part of the plan was to increase urban tree cover from 18.9% to 25%.