Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
‘Tree for everyone in district’
More than 160,000 trees should be planted as part of a drive to create “new forests” across the district, says a city councillor. Green-fingered Liberal Democrat Mike Sole is calling for Canterbury City Council to establish a charitable trust responsible for the creation of woodland areas. The Nailbourne councillor says the charity would then be able to buy up land with low development value on which a tree for every person in the district could be grown. “We’ll be creating mini forests, some of which will be there for people to enjoy,” he said.
“It would be actual woodland; not just green space. It’s a longterm plan as these trees will take decades to grow. The land won’t get developed as the trust will own the land and certain covenants will be put in place.” The areas of woodland – dubbed “people’s forests” – would then be open for nature lovers to stroll or cycle through. Contributions would be taken from developers hoping to build on land across Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay. Cllr Sole says creating a trust would also make it eligible for government grants, National Lottery funding and sponsorship from local businesses.
“Where I live in Kingston, we’ve got some lovely woodland – and it’s fantastic,” he added. “There’s a lot of land around here that’s used for grazing and is low value and not prime agricultural land.”
Cllr Sole says land close to the Crab and Winkle cycle route between Canterbury and Whitstable would be well-suited. He has put the proposals to Canterbury City Council’s climate change working group, for which he is a member, as it prepares a comment on the authority’s Local Plan consultation. Council spokesman Rob Davies said: “We thank Cllr Sole for his ideas around tree planting. Our current Local Plan consultation is seeking views on the issues we should consider as we review our plan, and overall is aiming to address the challenges of climate change and the health and wellbeing of the community.”