Belfast is “seriously off-track” in its schedule to plant one million trees by 2035, it has been revealed at City Hall.
At a Belfast City Council committee meeting this week, elected representatives bemoaned the lack of progress on the One Million Trees project - which is just over a tenth of the way to completion, despite being a third of the way into its 15 years.
At the April meeting of the council’s People and Communities Committee meeting, Alliance Councillor Jenna Maghie said: “We are five years into a 15 year plan that started in 2020 and finishes in 2035 - that’s a third of the way through. My assumption is we should be a third of the way through planting.
READ MORE: Controversial Belfast Crescent Park gates installed at cost of £60,000
READ MORE: Belfast dog fouling enforcement figures reveal how many fines issued and where
“The latest update I could get on the council, which I think comes from January of this year, but it isn’t clear, is that we have planted just over 110,000 trees, which puts us about 220,000 behind where we would be if we were aiming for a million by 2035.
“It feels as if we have lost a bit of momentum on a project that was launched with much fanfare.”
She added: “We want to get an update on planting numbers, ideally year on year thus far, to see if we really are losing momentum. We should include stuff around the mortality rate, because there is no point just planting trees if they are not thriving.
“And we need details of work we have done to establish partnerships with other public bodies. And I would like an annual update to the committee on where we are regarding the number of trees planted.
“If we are seriously off-track, which I think 220,000 trees is, then we need to get a plan in place.”
The idea for the project originated with Belfast Metropolitan Residents Group and was launched in 2020 as a partnership initiative coordinated by Belfast City Council.
Belfast Council says on its website: “Planting trees in Belfast has many benefits. Trees increase the beauty of our city, improve resident health and are one of the best ways to tackle climate change. We are working with city partners and local communities to plant one million native trees across Belfast by 2035.
“The Belfast One Million Trees initiative was inspired by an original idea from the Belfast Metropolitan Residents Group. One Million Trees is one of the main ways to support climate adaption across the city and help make it more resilient to climate change.
“One Million Trees makes a substantial contribution to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs’ Northern Ireland-wide Forest of our Future initiative.
“By planting one million trees, we can: reduce carbon, improve air quality, reduce flooding, increase urban cooling, support and enhance biodiversity, and improve physical and mental health and wellbeing.”
It gives a figure of 110,254 trees planted so far.
At the City Hall committee meeting, SDLP Councillor Gary McKeown said: “I share the concerns that the One Million Trees project seems to have dropped off the radar. Whenever it was introduced there was a great deal of momentum behind it.
“The initiatives the council undertook to involve the community gave it that real momentum. There were events such in Ormeau Park, where people could turn up and get mini-trees to plant in their own gardens.
“That gave a real sense of community ownership in the city. But I haven’t seen anything like that in two or three years. It has left the awareness of the public, and it also seems to have dropped from the awareness of the council.
“This initiative was put in place by this council for a very specific reason, and it is unfortunate to discover that we are way behind our target, never mind reaching the one million target, which we need to achieve.”
Green Councillor Anthony Flynn said: “One Million Trees is good and admirable, but in the Belfast Tree Establishment Strategy it basically says we could plant up to seven million trees on the land that we have. It is a drop in the ocean of what we could achieve.” He asked council officials for more information on the tree nurseries the council are sourcing from and how much they produce.
He said: “We may end up figuring out that if we do want to scale up, we actually have to invest in tree nurseries, because that is going to be what helps deliver this. Because we can’t go to England or Europe to get them, because that could introduce issues with die-back and other diseases.
“Yields are also a big part of this. I cycle the Comber greenway all the time, and over the past number of years I have seen the whips that were planted along Tullycarnet and other parts of the route not surviving and being out-performed by weeds.”
Councillors agreed to task officials with an update next month covering all the issues the three elected representatives raised.
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.
English (United States) ·