British government tree planting campaign from 2011 to 2015
The Big Tree Plant
Big Tree Plant Campaign Logo
A Government-sponsored tree planting campaign in England overview
Formed
2010
The Big Tree Plant was a Government-sponsored campaign in England in 2010, to promote the planting of trees in neighbourhoods where people lived and worked.[1][2] The national campaign ran over four years from 2011 to 2015 and met its objective to plant one million trees.[3][4]
Background
The campaign aimed to halt the ongoing decline in urban and semi-urban tree planting in England and was the first such initiative since Plant A Tree In '73.[1][2] The decline was highlighted by a survey of urban trees in England carried out in 2005 (published as the report Trees in Towns II in 2008), which found that there had been a 'big reduction' in urban tree planting (compared to a similar 1992 survey) leading to an 'unsatisfactory age structure' with too few young trees, and which concluded that the issue should be 'urgently addressed'.[5]
In London a separate 2007 report, Chainsaw Massacre, found that there were concerns about planting rates in some boroughs, and that mature broadleaf street trees throughout London were under 'severe threat' due to a mixture of development pressures, reduced expenditure, public apathy and antipathy, and (often unsubstantiated) concerns by insurance companies, solicitors and home-owners over subsidence.[6] Both reports also expressed concern over the practice of planting smaller ornamental species rather than large-growing broadleaf trees such as London plane, and particularly larger native trees like lime and oak.
Funding
Funding of £4.2m was to be made available for community, civic and other non-profit groups from April 2011.[7] In addition to covering planting costs, grants could be used for related purposes such as community involvement, site surveys and the provision of expert advice.[2] £4m of the funding allocation was promised by the Forestry Commission[2] through 'efficiency savings and re-prioritisation',[8] while the remaining £200,000 came from the existing London Tree and Woodland Community Grant.[9] The independently chaired Big Tree Plant Grants Panel included representatives from civil society organisations, DEFRA, and the Forestry Commission, and met each spring and summer to award funds.[10]
In advance of the main funding, Keep Britain Tidy - one of the partners supporting the initiative - had already invited applications for planting kits from schools in the Government's Eco-School programme.[11][12]
Criticism and reactions
The funding arrangements, specifically the fact that the grants would normally only cover up to 75% of the cost of each scheme (although free labour could be offset against this),[14] was criticised by some as favouring better-off over deprived communities.[15] Other projects which coordinated external funding from local stakeholders were more successful.[16]
The government stated that “Seventy percent of the trees in The Big Tree Plant programme were being planted in England’s most deprived areas.”[17][18] The programme was generally well received. 62,336 trees were planted in the Mersey Forest representing 6% of England's total Big Tree Plant target of 1 million trees.[3] Conservation Volunteers and community groups also managed to plant over 143,000 trees all around England during the programme.[19][13]
^Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) webmaster@defra gsi gov uk. "Defra, UK - What's going on". Big Tree Plant. Archived from the original on 2013-07-02. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
^Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) webmaster@defra gsi gov uk. "Defra, UK - About the campaign". Big Tree Plant. Archived from the original on 2013-07-02. Retrieved 2019-06-17.