Friday, March 29News For London

Volunteers plant trees as part of city hall campaign

London’s newest urban woodland which is being created in Southall in Ealing borough is taking shape.

Lily Maskell-Key planting trees on King George's field, Southall (Photo: Gifty Andoh Appiah)
Lily Maskell-Key planting trees on King George’s field, Southall, Ealing. (Photo: Gifty Andoh Appiah)

The charity, Trees for Cities  recently organised its second mass planting exercise which brought the total number of trees planted so far on King George’s field to 15, 000. The goal is to plant 20,000 trees along the edge of the park.

According to the charity, the woodland will provide a serene atmosphere where locals can relax and also forage.

“This woodland is an edible woodland so as these trees grow, local communities [and] the children obviously will be able to come here, pick fruits and nuts and berries.

“It will be great for their health, education, for the community itself and wildlife. So it has multiple benefits,” said David Elliott, Chief Executive of Trees for Cities.

The Mayor’s office is encouraging Londoners to plant trees.  This planting exercise forms part of the mayor’s  ‘For the Love of Trees’ campaign.

The campaign, according to the Mayor’s office, will add 40,000 new plants to the city’s estimated eight million trees.

Mayor of Ealing, Harbhajan Kaur-Dheer told Westminster World her borough was taking tree planting seriously as a measure to counter air pollution.

“Ealing is known as a green borough so we like [the fact] that our borough is planting lots of trees every year.  I will like to also find out other areas to get these trees to be planted,” she said.

20,000 saplings have been made available to school children in London who are interested in planting trees.

In the following report, Adelaide Arthur explores how children are helping to create London’s newest woodland.