Tree sponsorship scheme

Bristol City Council joined Trees for Streets, the national street tree planting scheme in 2022, with the aim of  augmenting previous work which had seen 70,000 trees planted in Bristol between 2016 and 2022. The aims of scheme membership  are to supplement councils' budgets for tree planting on streets and in parks through private and corporate sponsorship, and to make it easier for individuals and companies to plant trees.

Under Bristol's sponsorship scheme, Bristol residents wishing to sponsor a tree can choose from a large number of pre-approved locations, or can ask for a specific location. The council checks the suitability of the location and of the tree suggested, and once the proposal has been agreed, then arranges for sponsored trees to be planted in the following winter.

Trees planted under this scheme in Redland Green have often been planted - or are in the process of being planted - as a memorial to someone dear to the sponsor. The eight new orchard trees were also sponsored and planted by RGCG under this scheme.

Trees had been sponsored in the Green for several years before Bristol joined the national scheme: one of these, near the playground is Laura, James and Nicholas Emm's birch tree, planted in 2021 in memory of their mother.

There are currently ten trees, either already planted or soon to be planted, in the plan for Redland Green. Five of these are replacements for trees previously sponsored which have died. The council's scheme guarantees to replace trees if they die within two years of planting, and we will always replace our own plantings where possible. The other five are new trees: three are sponsorships in memorium (a sweet chestnut, a red oak and a copper beech), one (a cut leaved alder) is sponsored by RGCG, and the remaining one, a larch, is sponsored by RGCG.

The choice of trees was jointly decided by John Tarlton, of the Bristol Tree Forum and RGCG, and a local resident, and Steve Quigley, Bristol City Councillor's new tree officer for Redland Green and other parks in this part of Bristol. The trees were chosen for diversity, colour and interest, as well as other considerations, such as moisture tolerance.

Trees provide a huge number of "ecosystem services" to us and other species. Apart from providing habitat, food and nesting and roosting opportunities for many different kinds of animals, there is a great deal of evidence on their value for our own physical and mental well-being. They also improve air quality, absorbing air pollution, they take up carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, mitigate flooding and have a vital role in reducing heat in cities. Even one tree can make many different kinds of difference for the better.

The two maps below show the new tree plans, and give both the species planned and their locations. 

The first tree planted in winter 2022/23 was tree 7, a sweet chestnut.

The most recent sponsorships, planted in the last week of March and the first in April by the council, are a larch (6), a red oak (4), a beech  (though not a copper beech) (5), and a cut leaf alder (lower map, tree 3).