STAND4TREES

Trees are good for people and the environment. Trees can improve air quality by producing oxygen, storing carbon, moderating the effects of sun/ wind and they clean the air by trapping dust, pollen and other pollutants. Trees provide food and shelter for wildlife such as birds, squirrels and insects, as well as for people. Trees have been proven to increase property value and to help relax people by lowering heart rates and reducing stress.

Council is committed to conserving and retaining existing trees and other features where it is considered that they have landscape or amenity value and will use its powers to protect trees where necessary.

In 2021 the Council agreed a Tree & Woodland Strategy that recognises the importance of trees, the many benefits they afford us and the critical role they can play in mitigating the effects of climate change. This strategy is required to ensure the Council’s limited budget is focused on positive planting programmes and managing tree care and risks.

The following are the key aims of the strategy that will guide the Council’s management of trees.

• Community Engagement: to actively engage and collaborate with the community and others in valuing trees as a vital community asset.
• Tree Planting: to increase the native tree canopy within the Borough by planting more trees to ensure a healthy balanced tree population that positively responds to the impacts of climate change and urban expansion.
• Managing Trees: to ensure good tree care, through sustainable management of the tree population and reducing risk.

Take Part

To ensure improved tree cover within the Borough, our STAND4TREES initiative will begin in 2021 and run until 2032. It is an ambitious yet achievable tree planting and promotion initiative that will engage local communities to help increase and enhance the level of tree cover on Council land and that of other agencies and private landowners.  One of the actions within the STAND4TREES initiative is to plant a tree for every person in the Borough, that is approximately 160,000.

If you would like to take part in tree planting across the Borough please contact us on 0300 013 3333 or email andparks@ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk

Tree Maintenance Frequently Asked Questions

Ards and North Down Borough Council uses a proactive approach in the management of its tree stock. We engage an expert consultant to periodically carry out full inspection surveys for each of our sites, to assess the risk of significant harm from a tree or branch fall. The inspection surveys often recommended a number of trees to be felled and pruned.

More information about this matter, including a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) can be found at Tree Maintenance Works | Ards and North Down Borough Council