Urban Tree Planting
Introduction to Urban Tree Planting
Urban trees have a huge range of benefits, both for wildlife and for people. As well as being good for our mental health, they help to clean our air, mask noise, absorb greenhouse gases, reduce flood risk, provide shade and protection, and reduce the urban heat island effect.
Trees also provide valuable wildlife corridors which can bring the countryside into the town by providing connectivity for invertebrates, birds and bats.
We work closely with partners and community groups to plant trees around the county. Several projects are currently underway to plant trees in urban areas.
Please see the East Sussex Highways website for more information on how we look after trees or to report a problem with a tree.
Eastbourne
Treebourne was awarded a grant by the Urban Tree Challenge Fund and are working with Eastbourne Borough Council to plant 1,000 street trees between 2021 and 2023. You can find out more on their website at Treebourne | Greening Eastbourne streets.
Seaford
East Sussex County Council has been successful in securing funding from the Local Authority Treescapes Fund (LATF) for three years running. To date, the fund has paid for the removal of over 100 tree stumps and the planting of over 200 new street trees in Seaford and Eastbourne.
Two joint LATF bids with Lewes District and Eastbourne Borough Councils have also contributed to planting in Lewes, Seaford and Cooksbridge, with volunteers planting over 500 trees during the winters of 2021 and 2022. This work was facilitated by Trees for Seaford, The Friends of Lewes and Hamsey Parish Council.
Around 400 mature elms have had to be felled in Seaford, Lewes and Eastbourne since 2017 due to old age and Dutch Elm Disease, and this will go some way to replace them.
A special maintenance programme of regular watering and other maintenance will be put in place for the first three years to give them the best chance of survival.
The grant also included some funding for the local community group Trees for Seaford to help them purchase 90 trees which were planted over the winter of 2021 to 2022. Trees for Seaford is part of the Tree Wardens Network and has been working in Seaford for over 10 years. It has planted hundreds of trees in the town’s streets, schools and parks.
Bexhill
Environmental charity Trees for Cities has also been awarded a grant from the Forestry Commission’s Urban Tree Challenge Fund. They are working with Rother District Council and East Sussex County Council to plant street trees on land managed by the County Council in Bexhill. 224 trees were planted in 2022-23 and around 120 will be planted in 2023-24.
Trees will be carefully chosen to suit each location. As well as physical considerations, we will take into account other factors including the character of each area, accessibility for pedestrians and sight lines for drivers.
Rother District Council and Trees for Cities are also working together on a separate project to plant trees in other green spaces that are managed by Rother District Council, around the town with funding from Defra’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund.
These projects are both part of the Trees for Cities’ Forgotten Places project – greening coastal towns and cities. It specifically focuses on increasing tree cover in coastal towns and cities with lower-than-average tree canopy cover and high levels of deprivation.
You can find out more on their website including a map of locations where tree will be planted:
Forgotten Places: Greening Coastal Towns and Cities | Trees for Cities and New Street Trees for Bexhill | Trees for Cities.
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