Other places are streets ahead at staying green

IABSOLUTELY love this time of year. As you walk past nature-friendly hedges and trees, birdsong rings through the air and it always brings a smile to my face.

Then there’s the fact that just about every plant we allow to grow is at its best after the lift in temperature, a lot more sun and some sprinklings of rain.

Tree-lined avenues throughout the city are showing off their Sunday best.

And it’s great to see city centre premises like bars and cafes adorned with plants and flowers of just about every kind.

Some, like the Duke of York, really go all out – and hats off to them for it!

Can’t say I feel the same others that substitute the real thing with plastic intruders, probably installed because they are a little less work.

I can’t help but feel it’s a missed opportunity to do their bit for the environment and cleaning up our air.

And don’t even get me started on fake grass, on sale by the metre in hardware and bargain stores across the city.

All a bit of a microplastic nightmare, if I’m honest. It’s really not hard to grow the real thing and keep it alive with a little water every day.

Then there’s the disparity between haves and have-nots on the street-tree front. While some folks across Belfast and beyond are lucky enough to live in areas where the built environment is softened by rows of majestic trees many of us are not.

And there appears to be a clear divide between historically affluent areas and everywhere else.

New build estates and streets seem to focus their planting in the rows between gardens, with little in front of homes. I know Belfast City Council has promised to plant one million trees and I can’t wait to see that happen.

The city centre, with all the recent talk of the mess it’s become, really could use a lot more greenery.

Cities like Brisbane, Australia, where I lived for a while, are leaps and bounds ahead of us on that front and imagine the amount the water they need to keep them alive with the temperatures there.

They have buildings covered in greenery, archways covered in creepers and trees just about any place there’s a spot for one.

Here the weather does half the work for us and still we only see trees on a few of our main streets.

They are few and far between on the largely pedestrian shopping streets in and around Victoria Square, on High Street and further along Royal Avenue.

Compared to a city like Paris, there’s not much green about Belfast at all.

I know it’s probably best these things are considered when regeneration schemes are underway or new cycle lanes are being added in – but there’s no reason why we could pull up a few pavers and slide a tree in every couple of metres on the streets that have none.

As temperatures and tides rise, they will help us fight the climate crisis - and imagine the difference they would make to the quality of air!

The street where the Daily Mirror’s new HQ is boasts no greenery at all despite its width, but you’ll find plenty of binbags and rubbish lying about it.

We need to start planting that million trees on city streets where there are none. It will make the place a far prettier place to welcome tourists to as well.

And while we’re at it – how about some schemes to add them to residential streets still a poor far out cousin to the leafy suburbs in some parts of the city.