• Make a contribution
  • Get the Print Edition
  • Sign up for our daily newsletter
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
  • Login
Reading Today Online
  • HOME
  • YOUR AREA
    • All
    • Caversham
    • Central Reading
    • East Reading
    • Katesgrove
    • Reading
    • Southcote & Coley
    • Tilehurst & Norcot
    • Whitley

    Woman in her seventies sexually assaulted on bus in Reading

    Health secretary visits Royal Berks

    Kenya Butchers and Just Fresh owners fined nearly £60k for further health and safety breaches

    Vyome Singh named Reading New Comdian of the Year– after only starting stand-up in January

    World Bee Day: UoR says pollinators face continued and increasing threats

    Murder Trial Tonight casts audience as jury in immersive true crime show at The Hexagon

    Reading man jailed after being found with cocaine and heroin

    Reading man jailed for intent to supply class A drugs

    New store opens to serve neighbours in Whitley opened by MP

  • COMMUNITY
  • READING FC
  • SPORT
    • All
    • Basketball
    • Football
    • Rugby

    Rob Couhig reveals new Reading FC CEO following takeover

    It’s a podium streak for Wokingham racing star Bobby with a win at Silverstone

    Rams RFC celebrate at end of season ball

    Lewis hits brilliant century to see Berkshire CCC beat Buckinghamshire

    ‘Without you, there would be no club’: Defender sends farewell message to Reading FC fans

    Style and splendour returns to Newbury

    Former Reading FC manager to be named as new Brazil national team assistant manager under Ancelotti

    ‘The club lives on’: Reading FC Community Trust reacts to ownership news

    New Reading FC owner Rob Couhig sends message to loyal fans

  • ENTERTAINMENT
    • ARTS
    • READING FESTIVAL
    • READING PRIDE
    • WOKINGHAM FESTIVAL
  • PRIDE OF READING
  • OBITUARIES
  • JOBS
  • ADVERTISE
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Reading Today Online
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

FROM THE LEADER: Why we are planting trees across Reading

Jason Brock by Jason Brock
Thursday, April 18, 2024 7:03 am
in Featured, Opinion
A A
Whitley Orchard Tree Planting on Saturday. Actor Winston Ellis (right) joined volunteers and Freely Fruity members planting trees. Picture: Steve Smyth

Whitley Orchard Tree Planting on Saturday. Actor Winston Ellis (right) joined volunteers and Freely Fruity members planting trees. Picture: Steve Smyth

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

By Jason Brock

A few weeks ago, we revealed that we’d reached our target of planting over 300 new trees during the winter.

In fact, we planted 320 new trees, as well as replacing 86 dead and felled trees during the planting season.

This is an important commitment that we’re making to our environment in Reading, as planting trees helps reduce flooding and noise, improves wildlife habitat, provides shade as temperatures rise in the summer and improves the character and colour of the town.

Reading’s Tree Strategy aligns with the Council’s Climate Change Strategy, with tree planting helping to absorb carbon dioxide from the air and contributing to the ambition for Reading to be net zero carbon by 2030.

Our aim is to reach at least 12% canopy cover in each of Reading’s 16 wards and achieve an overall canopy cover of at least 25% across the borough.

Related posts

Woman in her seventies sexually assaulted on bus in Reading

Health secretary visits Royal Berks

Kenya Butchers and Just Fresh owners fined nearly £60k for further health and safety breaches

Vyome Singh named Reading New Comdian of the Year– after only starting stand-up in January

Since the Tree Strategy was published in 2021, Reading Borough Council has been on a positive drive forward to achieve the planting of 3,000 trees on Council land by 2030. This is part of an ongoing commitment to increase tree canopy cover and make Reading greener.

The great thing about our tree planting commitment is what a team and community effort it is. Our impressive planting rate achieved so far has been greatly bolstered by the collaborative contributions of two of the Council’s partners, Ethical Reading, and Reading Tree Wardens.

Through its Trees for Reading initiative, Ethical Reading enables businesses to fund the planting and care of trees in the parts of town where they are most needed, and Reading Tree Wardens have a warden in every ward across Reading.

They provide valuable support to the Council in looking after the borough’s trees to ensure they are surviving and flourishing. They are especially focused on monitoring new trees as they get established.

Last March a new community orchard was started in South Whitley Park, following a successful Council bid for £85,000 of grant funding from the Department for Levelling up, Housing & Communities. Recently local residents and volunteers from Freely Fruity planted 50 additional fruit trees at the orchard, all donated by Freely Fruity whose ambassador, actor Winston Ellis, also came along to help with the planting.

If you’re wondering whether you can also get involved with helping make Reading greener yourself, you certainly can.

We’ve teamed up with charitable enterprise Trees for Streets to work with residents either individually or in a group, so anyone can apply to have a tree planted on their behalf as close as possible to their chosen location, such as right outside your house.

The one-off fee to sponsor a tree is £395, or £295 if you commit to watering the tree yourself.

The process is simple:

Visit www.treesforstreets.org/reading to request a location for a new tree, answer a few simple questions, and submit your sponsorship details.

The Council will survey the location to check for suitability.

If acceptable, an ‘instant-impact’ tree (normally 5-7 years old and 3-4 metres high) will be planted, during the November to April planting season.

This is a great opportunity for us to work alongside our communities to improve the town through this initiative, and for you to put your own personal touch on your street whilst benefiting you and your neighbours.

To sponsor a tree or for more information, visit www.treesforstreets.org/reading

Cllr Jason Brock is the leader of Reading Borough Council and is stepping down after the local elections

Keep up to date by signing up for our daily newsletter

We don’t spam we only send our newsletter to people who have requested it.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Previous Post

VOLUNTEER CORNER: As seen in Reading Today of April 18, 2024

Next Post

PACT encourages residents to lace up for Marathon in May

FOLLOW US

POPULAR STORIES

  • Young man and woman attacked by group of teenagers in Reading robbery

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Former Reading FC star to be released as free agent by Championship club

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Former Reading FC star to become free agent following Championship relegation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Thousands experience power outage in Reading, not expected to be fixed for hours

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Reading FC group Sell Before We Dai makes generous donation following end of campaign

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

RDG.Today – which is a Social Enterprise – provides Reading Borough with free, independent news coverage.

If you are able, please support our work

Click Here to Support RDG.Today

ABOUT US

Reading Today is dedicated to providing news online across the whole of the Borough of Reading. It is a Social Enterprise, existing to support the various communities in Reading Borough.

CONTACT US

news@wokinghampaper.co.uk

Reading Today Logo

Keep up to date with our daily newsletter

We don’t spam we only send our newsletter to people that have subscribed

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

The Wokingham Paper Ltd publications are regulated by IPSO – the Independent Press Standards Organisation.
If you have a complaint about a  The Wokingham Paper Ltd  publication in print or online, you should, in the first instance, contact the publication concerned, email: editor@wokingham.today, or telephone: 0118 327 2662. If it is not resolved to your satisfaction, you should contact IPSO by telephone: 0300 123 2220, or visit its website: www.ipso.co.uk. Members of the public are welcome to contact IPSO at any time if they are not sure how to proceed, or need advice on how to frame a complaint.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • MY AREA
    • Central Reading
    • East Reading
    • Bracknell
    • Calcot
    • Caversham
    • Crowthorne
    • Earley
  • COMMUNITY
  • SPORT
    • Reading FC
    • Football
    • Rugby
    • Basketball
  • ENTERTAINMENT
    • ARTS
    • READING FESTIVAL
    • READING PRIDE
    • WOKINGHAM FESTIVAL
  • PRIDE OF READING
  • OBITUARIES
  • JOBS
  • ADVERTISE
  • CONTACT US
  • SUPPORT US
  • SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
  • WHERE TO GET THE PRINT EDITION

© 2021 - The Wokingham Paper Ltd - All Right Reserved.