2 days Ago
A countryside charity has called for additional funding for city trees. Brighton and Hove city council held a public meeting to address concerns about works being carried out in Brighton woodlands. In the meeting the council accepted that more should have been done to communicate with the public about the works and said that mistakes had been made.
They agreed to work more closely with residents in the future. Following the meeting, director of CPRE Sussex, Paul Steedman has written to Brighton and Hove council to call for funding to support tree planting projects. The charity has asked the council to ringfence £250,000 of the £3.
6 million available from the community infrastructure levy (CIL) for helping to restore the city’s trees. Mr Steedman said: “There is huge public upset and anger about the very significant losses of trees on streets, in parks and in woodlands. “These losses are being exacerbated by ash dieback and elm disease.
“At Monday’s meeting, there was acknowledgement from all sides that the council's public communications around felling programmes, necessary as some of them may be, has fallen well short of what was needed. “There is also a very strong desire to know how we go forward to turn the situation around. Yet an apparent lack of funds is one of the major blockers to woodland restoration and planting new trees.
"The very significant sums of money accrued and expected from CIL can help to answer that question.” CPRE Sussex is a volunteer led project and works with Brighton and Hove city council to plant new trees across the city. The charity said the money suggested would be an additional sum and would not be diverting money from recommended seafront works, community funds, or the neighbourhood ward top-up.
Mr Steedman added: “Public trees must not be seen as 'nice to have' bonuses. “They are critical infrastructure for the city, delivering on the council’s goals around physical and mental health, air quality, climate change, flood prevention, biodiversity and more.”.
