Wandsworth Council Urged to Adopt A New Tree Strategy

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Local tree wardens publish discussion paper calling for ‘urban forest’

Wandsworth Tree Wardens

A report has been published by the Wandsworth Tree Wardens Network which aims to stimulate discussion about the borough’s tree population and encourage the Council to update their strategy. The existing strategy dates back to 2001.

A 21st Century Tree Strategy for Wandsworth urges action to increase the tree canopy cover for the area creating an ‘Urban Forest for Wandsworth’ so the report authors’ claim residents can benefit from the proven benefits that trees provide such as cleaning the air, London Trees remove 2,241 tonnes of pollution from the air annually including 13% of PM10 and 14% of NO2 from particulates linked to conditions like heart disease and asthma.

The Wandsworth Tree Wardens Network is a member the Tree Council’s National Tree Warden Scheme which was launched in 1990. They are all local volunteers, resident in the London Borough of Wandsworth, and describe themselves as local tree champions and the eyes and ears of our neighbourhoods in all things tree.

Their objectives are to promote for public benefit the conservation, protection and improvement of the environment through the planting, care, nurture and cultivation of trees throughout the borough. They aim to raise public awareness of the many benefits that trees in the urban environment provide and the unique hardship that city trees are subject to. Their principal focus is on street trees, those trees which are planted in the public realm, mainly residential streets and roads and, to a lesser extent, trees in parks, commons and new public urban spaces.

The Wandsworth Tree Warden Network want to encourage a greater understanding of the value and numerous benefits afforded by our local tree stock, which forms a hugely valuable and important green infrastructure within the borough.

July 28, 2017