Tsar to save UK trees
Councils will be told to stop needless felling and increase planting
Chopped: Sheffield trees. Inset: Mail, June 4 A ‘ TRee Tsar’ was appointed yesterday to stop local councils needlessly chopping down excessive numbers.
Sir William Worsley was given the role created by environment Secretary Michael Gove who also wants him to drive forward official plans to plant 12million trees by 2020.
The total includes one million new trees in towns and cities. During his year-long term, Sir William will liaise with mayors, city leaders and other key players across local government to ‘prevent the unnecessary felling of street trees’.
He will also support ‘ the introduction of a new duty for councils to properly consult with communities before they cut down trees’, said officials. The move follows protests in Sheffield against the Labourrun council’s deal with a private firm which has led to the felling of 5,500 trees since 2012.
Under the Streets Ahead project, many healthy street trees have been sacrificed as part of a 25-year highways maintenance project.
Mr Gove has condemned the losses as ‘ environmental vandalism’ in Parliament.
Yesterday he said: ‘We have a responsibility to make sure the next generation inherits the woodlands, forests and trees they deserve. We are beginning to see good progress in growing tree cover, but we need to go further and faster.
‘I’m confident Sir William will bring the expertise and vision required to rapidly drive forward planting rates and prevent street trees being felled.’
Sir William is currently chairman of the National Forest Company, which is overseeing the creation of the National Forest in 200 square miles of former industrial land in central england. The creation of a Tree Tsar is a key commitment in the Government’s 25 Year environment Plan launched in January. It sets out how the environment will be improved over a generation, including expanding woodland cover.
Since unveiling the plan, ministers have committed nearly £ 6million to kickstart the creation of a Northern Forest along the M62 corridor.
The ambition is to plant 50million trees over the next 25 years from Liverpool to Hull, boosting habitats for wildlife.
It is now also easier to apply for woodland creation grants and the Government has recently approved two largescale projects.
More than 600,000 trees are being planted at Doddington North Moor, Northumberland, while more than 200,000 will be put in at Lowther Park in the Lake District.
Sir William is the nephew of the Duchess of Kent and runs the maintenance of the family’s stately home Hovingham Hall and its 3,000-acre estate.
He is the sixth baronet in the Worsley family which dates back to the Norman Conquest.
‘Responsibility to next generation’