Every Tree in the Borough To Be Mapped Online
New website will contain details of species, age and height of each tree
Major initiative underway to plant more trees. Picture: Woodland Trust
Trees in the London Borough of Hounslow are to be mapped online for residents to explore in a new interactive website.
Greentalk will help residents connect with and explore the area’s vast range of trees across parks and open spaces.
The borough has more than 350 tree species and over 120,000 trees that are owned and managed by the Council which says that number is always growing.
Hounslow Council aims to plant a tree for every child born and last year alone 4,500 new trees were planted.
The new Greentalk interactive website – the first Council website of its kind - will provide residents with in-depth details about their trees including species, age, height, how rare or common the tree is, and who is responsible for pruning, watering and general maintenance.
And if residents take a shine to one tree in particular there is even the opportunity to adopt it.
Commenting on the partnership with Hounslow Council, Steve Pocock, Director of Greentalk Limited and a borough resident himself, said, “It’s great that Hounslow Council is serious about addressing the climate emergency threat.
“Hounslow Greentalk illustrates the council’s commitment to both engaging people with their environment and supporting communities to collaborate on environmental improvements.”
Cllr Samia Chaudhary, Cabinet Member for Leisure Services, said, “We are delighted to be working with Hounslow Greentalk on this fantastic initiative for Hounslow residents.
“It’s a great opportunity to explore our beautiful parks and green spaces and find out more about the trees that line our streets.
“We hope that residents will enjoy using the Greentalk platform and will help us to spread the word about the exciting walking routes on offer, whether walking, running, or cycling.
“The ‘adopt a tree’ feature will also be a fantastic way for residents to support the Council to ensure new trees across the borough flourish and grow into carbon capturing giants, which is particularly important in the warmer months of the year when they need watering more often.”
Cllr Guy Lambert, Cabinet Member for Highways, Recycling and Companies, added. “At Hounslow Council we take climate change very seriously and we are immensely proud to be the first Council in the country to map our urban forest and make it available to residents. The value of trees and the importance of the environment should never be underestimated.
“As the biggest plants on the planet, trees give us the gift of oxygen, store carbon and give life to wildlife and make our borough a fantastic place to live and work.”
The Council and Greentalk have partnered with three local neighbourhood community groups: Abundance London, Feltham in Bloom and Heston Action Group who will all be posting details of local initiatives so communities can get involved with environmental and climate change action and there is now the opportunity for more groups to also sign up and utilise the website to post their events.
The interactive map allows residents to explore the greenest nature walks nearby or create a route from any starting point. The website will soon feature opportunities for residents to leave comments or ‘likes’ and send feedback to the council.
The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) is a tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022 which invites people from across the United Kingdom to “Plant a Tree for the Jubilee.”
Everyone from individuals to Scout and Girlguiding groups, villages, cities, counties, schools and corporates is being encouraged to play their part to enhance our environment by planting trees from October, when the tree planting season begins, through to the end of the Jubilee year in 2022.
With a focus on planting sustainably, the QGC will encourage planting of trees to create a legacy in honour of The Queen’s leadership of the Nation.
Whether planting for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, to help tackle climate change, or to improve local areas around the country, the Woodland Trust’s popular free tree pack scheme is now open for applications. Schools and community groups across the London and Greater London are now able to apply for the first 1 million trees, and into 2022 there are over 3 million trees in total available via free tree packs.
Packs are sent out twice a year. In Spring the uptake was high across London and Greater London with 14,520 trees despatched for planting across the area.
The Woodland Trust is offering free trees with applications accepted on a first come, first served basis and the first million trees will be despatched in November during the planting season. The Trust welcomes applications from all types of community groups and people do not have to be part of a formal long-standing group, they just need to have a group name decided before they apply.
To order free trees people can visit www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/freetrees before 25 August and they’ll be delivered in November 2021.
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July 12, 2021