Braintree District Council is offering tree whips and bulbs to Parish and Town Councils, local community/voluntary groups, schools, colleges and charities within the district.
Two of the Council’s priorities in its recently approved Climate Change Strategy are to improve biodiversity and green spaces and increase the planting of trees and bulbs to help protect the natural environment. This in turn will deliver benefits to help tackle climate change, as well as having a positive impact on the wellbeing of local residents.
Feedback from the draft climate change strategy public engagement which took place in the summer, showed that access to green open spaces and the importance of trees and flowers was a common theme in making the district a good place to live.
Cllr Wendy Schmitt, Cabinet Member for Environment at Braintree District Council said: “Following the success of our numerous Green Heart of Essex bulbs and tree planting schemes, which included the planting of oak trees for our Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, this project is another great opportunity to involve the community as a whole. It will help protect our natural environment with more trees to capture and store carbon and bring colourful floral displays to enhance local areas. I would like to encourage all who may be eligible to seize this chance and take up the offer of the tree whips and bulbs we have available to plant in their own communities.”
The community tree planting will also contribute towards Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee through the Queen’s Green Canopy project, ‘Plant a tree for the Jubilee’, to honour the legacy of our Queen and benefit future generations. From November, you can add your Jubilee tree to The Queen's Green Canopy map on the official website: www.queensgreencanopy.org
The Council is investing £30,000 in the project to enable the planting of 18,600 native trees and 73,000 bulbs across the District. Planting packages will consist of tree whips, such as Field Maple, Hazel and Hawthorn and attractive bulbs including Daffodils, English Bluebells and Crocus, to encourage biodiversity and pollinators.
Packages will be available from November onwards and groups are expected to have planted the whips by December 2021 and the bulbs by March 2022.
If you would like to be involved in this wonderful project, please apply online for planting packages from Tuesday, 21 September and no later than Friday, 29 October 2021.
To find out more, view the criteria and apply online visit the Council’s website: www.braintree.gov.uk/treesandbulbs2021