Local residents rolled up their sleeves for a tree planting event in Hotham Park
yesterday
People turned up to lend a hand to the Council’s Parks and Greenspaces
Team, Councillors and Friends of Hotham Park who planted 24 trees and a new
hedge in the Bognor Regis park.
Half of the funding for the planting has been kindly donated by the Hotham Park
Heritage Trust, with contributions from Bognor Regis Town Council’s Hotham
Ward allocation money.
The trees were placed across the award-winning park with a new wildlifefriendly
native hedge planted in the conservation area.
Councillor Dan Purchese, Arun District Council’s Cabinet Member for
Neighbourhood Services, said: “A huge thank you to everyone who turned up to
this event to lend a hand. As a Council, we are highly focussed on preserving
our environment and mitigating the effects that a changing climate may have on
our parks.”
A ten-year tree planting strategy is currently being drafted by the Council,
informed by existing tree cover and an increasing public appreciation of the
importance of trees within our urban and rural communities.
The Council is seeking to build on previous successes which has seen
thousands of trees planted across the district on areas of open space provided
with new developments as well as existing open space. This includes 8,000
trees at Brookfield Park Littlehampton and 11,000 trees at Bersted Brooks,
Bognor Regis.
The Woodland Trust has taken on Worms Wood (owned by ADC and under
lease to the Trust) where 25,000 trees have been planted on a 33-acre
woodland.
The proposed strategy will underpin the Tree Policy which outlines the Council’s
assertation that Arun’s trees enhance parks and green spaces, provide habitats
for wildlife, act as the district’s lungs and help to reduce the rising temperatures
caused by climate change.
The policy can be found by visiting www.arun.gov.uk/dangerous-trees/ and
clicking on the link.
