How it works
Trees for Streets makes sponsoring a street tree as effortless as possible. We’ll capture the details of your request – along with your sponsorship donation – and work with your local council to make it happen.
Councils are responsible for planting trees in our streets, but sadly, council budgets are under-pressure as a result of years of cuts, with the COVID and cost-of-living crisis making this worse. This severely limits the amount of street tree planting councils can do, just at a time when we are crying out for more trees.
Street tree sponsorship makes more money available to keep planting street trees. Your contribution will allow your council’s tree planting budget to stretch further, helping grow your local urban forest quicker.
Each local council is responsible for its own sponsorship scheme, and as such it will make its own arrangements to plant new street trees. It is highly likely that your council will use their existing tree contractor to plant any new trees sponsored through this website.
If your sponsored tree is vandalised, it is likely that your council will replace it.
The exact terms and conditions of your council’s sponsorship scheme can be found on their dedicated page on this website. Choose your scheme, and then select More scheme details.
Trees for Streets is a charitable enterprise that hosts and promotes local street tree sponsorship schemes on behalf of local councils. Each local council sets the terms and conditions of its own street tree sponsorship scheme.
If your sponsored tree dies, it is likely that your council will replace it.
The exact terms and conditions of your council’s sponsorship scheme can be found on their dedicated page on this website. Choose your scheme, and then select More scheme details.
If you’ve agreed to water the tree and fail to do so, the council may reserve the right not to replace it in these circumstances.
Trees for Streets is a charitable enterprise that hosts and promotes local street tree sponsorship schemes on behalf of local councils. Each local council sets the terms and conditions of its own street tree sponsorship scheme.
Trees for Streets is a charitable enterprise that hosts and promotes local street tree sponsorship schemes on behalf of local councils.
Your council will determine the details of their scheme and set the terms and conditions. We work closely with your council from the moment you put in your request.
A community organisation or a group of neighbours can get together to sponsor one or more trees. We’ve had many wonderful success stories of neighbours transforming their whole street.
One way to do this is to nominate one person to fill in the online forms on this website and organise the payment on behalf of their group.
Another way is through our crowdfunding platform. This is an easy way for people to donate towards the planting of new trees. You can fill out an interest form, and a member of our team will be in contact.
You can sponsor more than one tree, and we often have residents choosing this option. The process varies from council to council, but we can help you with that.
Head over to your council’s page to find out more.
Some locations may simply be unsuitable for planting a tree. This may be as a result of the proximity of underground services (cables and pipes), lamp-posts, telephone poles, telecoms boxes, drop kerbs, pedestrian crossings, or pavements that are simply too narrow to fit a tree.
If your first chosen location is unsuitable, an alternative location will be provided, which you can accept or reject.
A tree pit is a space to the edge of the pavement that has been purpose made to accommodate a tree. It is usually situated in the verge area of the pavement, it will contain soil and often has hard edging.
The easiest place to plant a street tree is into an existing empty tree pit or a grass verge. If there is a hard surface where you’d like to have a tree planted, your council may be willing to plant there. Some councils will create a new tree pit, but they may ask you for a contribution.
Some locations may be unsuitable for a tree. This may be as a result of the proximity of underground services (cables/pipes), a nearby lamp-post or telephone pole, telecoms boxes, drop kerbs, pedestrian crossings, or pavements that are simply too narrow to fit a tree.
The best way to find out if your location is suitable is to put in an application, and we’ll discuss options with you if it isn’t.
You can use our online forms to request your street tree sponsorship. At the end of the forms you will be asked for payment details. If it is the case that you are sponsoring a tree in a location which has already been verified by the council, we will take your payment immediately.
If your local council needs to determine whether it is possible to plant at your preferred location, we will only take payment when this has been confirmed. Our payment processor will hold your direct debit securely, so that payment can be made at that time.
It is likely that councils will happily listen to any comments/requests you may have, and some may offer a choice of features.
In most circumstances, it is unlikely that you will be able to choose the variety of tree. This is because the selection of tree has to be made based on the circumstances of the location it is being planted. Factors include; what type of trees are already in your road, the width of the road and proximity of houses, along with consideration of the existing mix of tree species in your borough.
Trees for Streets run street tree sponsorship schemes on behalf of local councils. It is up to your local council to determine the detail of their local scheme, including whether to offer residents the choice of tree.
Most councils will not allow a plaque to be added to a street tree. Councils are very resource poor, and the extra task of adding a plaque to a tree is simply not practical.
In some cases, if your council runs a dedicated memorial tree planting programme, then they may have a process in place to arrange for a plaque. These memorial programmes tend to be restricted to more high-profile locations, such as parks and town squares, and often the locations will have been pre-selected by the council.
Head over to your council’s page to find out what they offer.
It’s your local council that legally owns the tree.
When you sponsor a tree, you are making a wonderful gift to your local community, who will all share in the benefit of this new tree for generations. Not only this, but you’ve helepd your council’s tree planting budget stretch further – meaning you’ve essentially gifted a tree somewhere else too.
Whilst you do not own the tree, you can certainly care for it and cherish it. For example, during very hot, dry periods, giving it a little extra drink can really help it thrive. If you have access to mulch, you can also add that to its base to help it retain moisture.
Street trees really need watering weekly during the summer months for their first 3 years to get them properly established. The rate of watering needs to increase if it is a particularly dry summer.
We recommend at least 50 litres per week. Trees like a really good soaking. It’s very difficult to overwater your tree, but it’s very easy to underwater it.
Watering your tree is a great opportunity to bump into your neighbours and make a powerful statement that yours is a neighbourhood where people care. You may even wish to recruit some neighbours to help you.
Some councils may also provide their own watering to complement your watering effort.
This scheme promotes the planting of trees in neighbourhoods, high streets, outside schools and in urban parks.
Most councils will let you make the selection of a viable street location for the tree you are sponsoring.
Some councils will offer a comprehensive list of pre-vetted locations to choose from. All this information will be provided on this website for each council’s own scheme.
Many locations our sponsors choose are suitable for a tree, but occasionally a chosen location isn’t optimal for new planting. What would prevent the council from planting a tree in a location could be:
The easiest place to plant a street tree is into an existing empty tree pit or a grass verge. Some councils may be happy to create a new tree pit into a hard surface, but may ask for a contribution from you to do so.
Please note, Trees for Streets promotes schemes on behalf of individual councils. Each council will run their scheme slightly differently.
Head over to your council’s page to find out individual donation costs for sponsoring a tree.
This price contributes to the planting of a brand new, instant impact (3-5 metre) tree. This is only a fraction of the overall costs – your council pays for the majority. Planting a new tree can cost upwards of £500, and can soar well above £1000 if a new tree pit needs to be created and the council covers watering.
But the result is a tree that will last many, many decades – bringing an array of benefits to all those who live near it. It’s a small price to pay for such a wonderful gift to the neighbourhood.
