Stockport Council and City of Trees, the Community Forest for Greater Manchester, have secured funding from Central Government’s Nature for Climate Fund which aims to plant more than 40 million trees and restore 35,000 hectares of peatland in England to help increase biodiversity, lock up carbon and reduce our vulnerability to climate change. This will make a key contribution to the Government’s legally binding commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

The Government has also launched a pilot initiative, the Nature Recovery Network, to help address the decline in our native wildlife, currently 54 native species are at risk. Greater Manchester is one of 5 pilot areas & planting more trees will form an essential part of restoring and linking habitats so wildlife can thrive.

Planting more trees is key in our fight against climate change owing to their ability to absorb greenhouse gases, provide natural air conditioning and in particular intercept rain water to help reduce the risk of flooding. Trees are also good for air quality as they are able to capture or disperse harmful pollution. Planting more trees will form part of Stockport’s response to delivering on their Declaration of a Climate Emergency.

In Stockport 8 sites have been identified where increasing tree cover will provide a range of wildlife and amenity benefits. One of those sites is adjacent to the River Tame near Willow Grove Cemetery. These planting locations have been carefully selected to ensure that they will not cause detriment to existing habitat space and the trees will be set back from footpaths to make sure that sight lines are maintained. Two Government mapping sites that host habitat data have been checked to ensure that the planting proposals do not conflict with any key habitats and the Greater Manchester Archaeological Advisory Service has also been consulted to make sure that there is not anything of historical significance in the planting area.

The proposed planting is scheduled for March.