Tree and Woodland Strategy

The town was designed with a great deal of emphasis on green space and its importance in helping to create a thriving community. The town continues to benefit from the foresight of the original architects who retained and protected many of the existing landscape features, such as hedgerows and lanes, woodlands and veteran trees, to create the varied green infrastructure, wildlife corridors and sense of identity that residents and visitors enjoy today.

This strategy sets out objectives for the way in which the town’s tree stock, including amenity trees, woodlands and ancient hedgerows, are managed and developed to ensure that they continue to contribute to an attractive and healthy environment for people and wildlife now and in the future.

It is a sobering thought to realise that there are a number of trees throughout the new town that were growing before the car was invented. Whilst it is impossible to predict what form of transport will be in general use in another 100 years’ time, it is possible to predict that with safeguarding, good planning, and care many of the trees we plant today could still be thriving.

Trees positively contribute to our lives in many ways and just as it is us who are benefitting now, from the foresight of the original new town planners, so we must show our commitment to the future by continuing to plant new, and manage existing, trees for the benefit of future generations. The life span of many tree species is considerably greater than ours, so to achieve all the benefits that trees can provide we need to start now.