Digging deep to plant thousands of trees
Maidenhead: Volunteers get planting as part of biodiversity push for winter
Spades were at the ready in Ockwells Park at the weekend as the community pitched in to help plant thousands of trees.
The Royal Borough has set itself the target of planting 8,000 different tree species this winter to help increase biodiversity at the sprawling green space in Cox Green.
People young and old turned up on Saturday to do their bit in the fight against climate change.
Councillor Donna Stimson, cabinet member for climate change, sustainability, parks and countryside, said: “The whole premise of this is just to get people out and discovering nature.
“It was David Attenborough who said when people get out and discover what it’s like to be amongst nature, they begin to fall in love with it.”
If the council manages to
plant 8,000 trees by the end of the winter season, it will mean 20,000 trees have been planted since the borough declared a climate emergency in 2019.
The local authority has faced widespread opposition over its plans to redevelop the sprawling 132-acre greenbelt
space at Maidenhead Golf Club.
Cllr Stimson told the Advertiser the council is committed to ensuring everyone living in Maidenhead has access to outdoor space.
“It’s not just trees,” she said. “It’s encouraging anything from living walls to roof gardens, like what is proposed at the new Three building.
“It’s about making sure everyone who lives in Maidenhead has access to some outdoor space somewhere.
“We want to make it a safe town and make it a community.”