Shropshire Council to consider planting 345,000 trees
Hundreds of thousands of trees could be planted across the county over the coming decades.
A motion being considered by Shropshire Council at a meeting this week could see the authority commit to planting 345,000 new trees by 2050 – one for each resident in the county.
Additionally, a 'Shropshire Tree Bank' scheme would be created, asking for a voluntary financial contribution from anyone felling a tree, if a replacement cannot be planted on the same site.
The fund would then be used to distribute free saplings to be planted every autumn.
The motion has been tabled by Councillor Andy Boddington, who represents Ludlow North, and is supported by the Liberal Democrat group.
It comes after the council declared a climate emergency earlier this year.
The motion states: "The role that trees can play in mitigating the increase in atmospheric CO2 and promoting biodiversity is well understood.
"But this council has not set out a specific ambition for increasing tree cover in the county.
"This motion declares such an ambition and provides an innovative mechanism for helping achieve it.
"The mechanism, the Shropshire Tree Bank, recognises that sometimes householders, housing providers, landowners and developers cannot replace felled trees on site but would welcome the opportunity for substitute planting."
Councillor Boddington said the Tree Bank would be cost neutral to the council.
The motion will be considered at a full council meeting on Thursday.
Last week Oswestry Town Council passed a motion to aim to plant 17,000 trees in the next three years – one for every person in the town.
The motion was tabled by Councillor Olly Rose, who said she was pleased the town was doing its bit to tackle climate change.
