Councillor Elizabeth Grey introduced a report by the Lead Commissioner – Environment Wirral which informed that the Council had developed the Wirral Tree Strategy (WTS) in partnership with Wirral Initiative for Trees (WiT) and a range of other key stakeholders. This ambitious strategy focused on tree protection, maintenance and planting and sought to dramatically increase Wirral’s Urban Forest (including the green infrastructure of parks, gardens, woods, trees in streets, footpaths, green spaces, trees and hedges) as a means of carbon capture. It was anticipated that WTS would also support the development of a National Tree Strategy.

The Wirral Tree Strategy (WTS), including an Executive Summary, was attached to the report as Appendix 1.

Councillor Grey informed that over the next ten years, the Council and its partners would:

·  establish a clear picture of Wirral’s tree stock and its benefits;

·  plant over 200,000 trees (at least 21,000 per year, net of loss incurred through Ash Dieback) such that Wirral’s tree canopy cover would be doubled once those trees were fully grown;

·  replace every felled tree with multiple new trees;

·  ensure that all new and replacement trees were planted under the principle of ‘right tree for the right place’;

·  ensure that all decisions and activities undertaken in relation to trees were made in a structured and consistent way; and

·  work constructively with individuals and groups across Wirral to deliver this ambitious vision and action.

The Cabinet was informed that in pursuit of this vision, the WTS would provide a mechanism for:

·  improving the provision and care of trees, woodlands and hedgerows;

·  formulating a focused action plan for the 2020-2030 period and beyond; and

·  monitoring the action plan(s) and policies for the care, management and enhancement of Wirral’s trees, woodlands, and hedgerows.

Councillor Grey informed that whilst the WTS was a ten-year strategy which covered the period of 2020-2030, it was also an ongoing framework for thinking about trees, woodlands, and hedgerows across the Borough of Wirral. The WTS was intended to be a living document, which would grow, change, and develop to meet future challenges in implementing the strategy, and, as such, would be regularly revised and extended over the next 50 years.

The Cabinet noted that the Council could continue operations without adopting a tree strategy. However, this course of action would be problematic in several respects.

Firstly, the Council would have no strategy in place to guide the process of replacing the trees which had been recently felled across the borough as part of the tree management regime. Not only would this course of action allow Wirral’s tree stocks to be depleted at a time when their benefits were vital in response to the climate emergency, it would contrast sharply with the commitments to replace such trees that the Council had made to residents, partners and stakeholders. If the Council were to fulfil its commitments to residents, partners, and stakeholders, as well as responding adequately to the practical reality of the climate emergency, it needed the WTS to provide strategic direction in its management and expansion of tree stock.

Secondly, the Council was committed to significantly increasing tree stocks across Wirral and the WTS presented a coherent vision for how this could be achieved. Without such a strategy, the Council risked investing valuable resources into a project in an inefficient, uncoordinated, and ad hoc manner.

Thirdly, the WTS pulls together, co-ordinates and supplements many aspects of the Council’s central objectives, as laid out in the Local Plan and Climate Emergency Action Plan. Not only does the WTS provide added value to these existing objectives, it provides an additional mechanism for ensuring we are maximising the outcomes for our residents, partners, and stakeholders.

This was a key decision and affected all Wards in the borough.

Appended to the report were:

·  Appendix 1 – Wirral Tree, Woodland and Hedgerow Strategy; and

·  Appendix 2 – Consultation Summary Report

Councillor Grey informed that Wirral’s Tree, Woodland and Hedgerow Strategy had grown from a tremendous amount of hard work and collaboration between the Council and Wirral Initiative on Trees.  This collaborative approach with local experts advising throughout had been commended at the highest levels.  Both DEFRA and the Tree Council had praised the work done and Friends of the Earth had described the Strategy as visionary.

Councillor Grey reported that the Strategy represented a key aspect of the Council’s Climate Emergency Action Plan and, over the next ten years, it would aim to double its tree cover by planting over 21,000 trees a year and by replacing any trees felled with multiple new trees.  Depending on the size of the tree felled, it would be replaced by up to eight new trees or more on occasion.  The Council would also promote natural regeneration wherever possible which fitted with the Council’s overarching ambitions to restore eco-systems and work with nature.  This vital part of the Council’s climate emergency response would see it work with individuals and groups across Wirral to support the Council’s ambition to be carbon neutral by 2030 by providing carbon storage as well as promoting and protecting natural habitats and biodiversity.

Councillor Grey was delighted that Wirral was leading the way and being recognised as such with this Strategy she informed the Cabinet that she was really disappointed that the Government had failed to emulate the Council’s high standards with its own Tree Strategy. 

Councillor Grey made reference to the England Tree Strategy which was now out to public consultation and urged everyone to take part and request that, like Wirral, the Government pledged to at least double tree cover which it had sadly failed to do.  She also urged people to request the Government to adequately fund councils like Wirral that were taking the climate emergency seriously and had pledged to plant hundreds of thousands of trees.

Councillor Pat Hackett thanked Councillor Grey for her detailed report and praised the best practice that the Council had adopted by putting the Strategy in place.  The Council was now leading the way locally and nationally.

Councillor Janette Williamson echoed Councillor Hackett’s sentiments and thanked Councillor Grey for all her hard work on the Strategy which meant that the Council was now leading the way.

Councillor Anita Leech thanked Councillor Grey, the officers and the interest groups who had helped draw up the Strategy which would now inform the Local Plan. The Strategy would be taken into consideration as part of any pre-planning applications that came forward.

Councillor Tom Usher informed that Wirral people wanted a greener borough and potentially some of these trees could be urban trees.  This was good for mental health and pride in local areas.

RESOLVED: That

(1)  the recommendations of the scrutiny panel’s review of the Wirral Tree Strategy be noted and endorsed:

(2)  the Wirral Tree Strategy be noted and endorsed;

(3)  the creation of an advisory board made up of Council representatives and partners to monitor progress against the Strategy’s objectives and action plan be approved;

(4)  the Director of Neighbourhood Services be authorised to develop the action plan to fully implement the Strategy; and

(5)  it be noted that the Tree Strategy can be a material consideration in planning applications and, therefore, a matter that will be considered in delegated officer decision making and decisions of the Planning Committee.