Long term locals decided their high street wasn’t living up to its name – and was in dire need of some more trees. Enter our street tree sponsorship scheme!
Growing West Green’s canopy
It all started when Chloe, who has been living in the area for over 14 years, saw our labels on some newly planted sponsored street trees. She felt inspired to submit a crowdfunding interest form, focusing on greening the main roads that often get overlooked, and yet have the most amount of people using them.
This got through to our dedicated Engagement team, who were thrilled to support a project to bring trees to the area. Although West Green has a canopy cover of 19% (1% shy of the recommended 20%), a lot of those trees are grouped in Downhills Park. Large sections of the high street are particularly devoid of trees, with some parts of the street in districts that have an overall canopy cover as low as 10%.
Bringing ideas together
Chloe was keen to bring the benefits of trees to the high street, and to the hundreds of people who use it every day.
Meanwhile, local parents Nina and Kristina had already been in touch with us about how to add more green infrastructure to nearby West Green Primary School, and make it a greener and healthier learning environment for the 200+ students.
We put them in touch with Chloe to support the crowdfunding campaign, and also connected them with our parent charity, Trees for Cities, who will be working with the school to establish a Healthy Playground project!
The right tree in the right place
With the trees going on the high street, consultation with local businesses was vital to ensure the trees went in the right places and didn’t interrupt business-as-usual activities such as deliveries. This also helped business owners on West Green Road feel a part of the project, and many added towards the crowdfunding.
We love our new trees! When Chloe spoke to us about the crowdfunder we were delighted to support with a donation, and spread the word through our social media channels. We have a brilliant community here in West Green, and projects like this just emphasis that – we’re grateful to Trees for Streets for helping to facilitate it too. We’re excited to see the trees grow and bloom, and in years to come they will stand as a really important legacy of community action in the area. – Nick, Perkyn’s cafe
Businesses and communities coming together
Thanks to all 168 backers, £6,155 was raised! This helped top up the funding from Haringey Council, and meant 20 trees were planted in total.
The total amount covers the cost of 20 instant impact trees (3-4 metres tall) and the equipment needed to help them establish, like poles, metal cages, root guards and watering bags. It also covers three years of watering, maintenance, and the initial pit creation.
A blossoming highstreet
These 20 trees will instantly transform the area, and local people are excited for the first blossoms of some of the cherry trees and juneberry trees planted. Whether someone lives or works in the area, goes to a local school, or is just passing through – everyone will benefit from these new trees.
And West Green Road can now proudly boast that they are, in fact, green!
Transform your neighbourhood
Street trees provide a huge variety of benefits, from improving mental health, to influencing traffic speed, to providing clean air – the list goes on.
If you think your street could benefit from more urban nature, click here to find out if we work with your local council, or reach out to our team to discuss your green plans; [email protected]
