New strategy for tree care in Crawley

The town is blessed with about 250,000 trees owned by the council, and tens of thousands more which are publicly and privately owned. It means that Crawley is well above the national average for its tree canopy coverage – about 26 per cent of the borough compared to 16 per cent nationally.

The strategy sets out how the council will maintain and improve the woodland and other trees it owns, only using the best species for the soil and other local conditions in its annual planting programme.

Councillor Bob Noyce, Cabinet member for Environment, Sustainability and Climate Change, said: “I’m pleased to have introduced this Tree Planting Strategy to ensure the health and vibrancy of our woodland in Crawley.

“We are blessed to have some outstanding areas of woodland in places like Tilgate, Goffs Park, Hawth Wood, Worth Park and Bewbush, and outstanding teams to take care of them. We have a duty to be responsible environmental stewards and our strategy will guide us towards improving the woodland we care for and expanding the number of trees we have.”

Even before the strategy was agreed by members of the Cabinet, the council increased its woodland with 500 trees from 13 species planted in Tilgate Park during October. This effort, to replace a field used previously for livestock grazing, was in addition to all the other annual planting. Dozens of members of the community came down to help with the digging and planting, with the saplings bought using funds secured from local developers to off-set the impact of new construction.

As part of the strategy, a database is also being created of the 20,000 council-owned trees which are at highest risk of causing injury or damage to property if they fall, with 13,000 trees already surveyed. The strategy also lays out how trees which need to be felled will be replaced.

To read a summary of the strategy, go to: Tree Planting Strategy