THOUSANDS of trees could be planted across Frome as part of a new project proposed by Frome Town Council.
The ‘Wild about Trees’ campaign proposes a schedule of tree planting up until March 2022, on land owned by the town council.
It also proposes to approach Mendip District Council and Somerset County Council to plant trees on their land; and also offer trees to residents, homeowners and businesses.
And trees could be planted as soon as this month, with areas including the Mary Baily playing field, Weylands, and Birchill Lane earmarked for planting in ‘season one’ of the project between now and March 2020.
The campaign, which supports the council’s pledge to fight climate change and make Frome a carbon neutral town by 2030, follows in the footsteps of the successful ‘Wild about Frome’ project, which involved areas around the town being left to grow, to create havens for wildflowers, bees and insects to flourish.
The ‘Wild about Trees’ project is scheduled to be discussed at Frome Town Council’s ‘Council Matters’ meeting on Wednesday 25th September, alongside a new ‘tree policy’ for the council, which confirms the importance of trees in the town and describes why Frome should value them.
In the proposal, environment manager for the town council, Chris Stringer says, “‘Wild about Trees’ (is) a new project founded on the ambition to plant more trees and hedges in Frome, in parks and green spaces that we look after and how we will support other people and other organisations to do the same across the town.
“By doing this, we hope to plant thousands of trees in Frome over the term of the current council and to continue planting trees into the future. In part, this is an evolution of what we’ve been doing in recent years. However, much of our tree planting in the last decade has been designed to add colour and character to the town and to landscapes by adding specimen trees or replacing those which have come to the end of their lives.
“‘Wild about Trees’ will continue to do this, but will also be aiming to plant many more trees with the specific aims of helping to fight climate change and responding to changes in our natural and urban environments.”
If agreed in principle at the full council, a detailed project plan including costs will be prepared for discussion at the ‘Council Matters’ meeting on Wednesday 6th November.
