1,100 trees will be planted to form new park woodland

In total 100 hundred young trees, all of them native species, will be introduced into the park which is currently undergoing £500,000 of improvements.

In addition to the 100 trees measuring between 3.5m and 6.5m tall, 1,000 smaller trees will be planted to form an under-storey of holly, birch, hazel, hawthorn and mountain ash.

The planting scheme is the final and largest of three that were identified as part of improvements to the park’s main car park entrance in Worden Lane. It will replace a row of Lombardy poplars and aspen trees, the oldest of which are now about 60 years old and nearing the end of their natural lives.

Two of these old trees have fallen in the past 10 years and a recent safety inspection showed significant decay in two of the remaining specimens.

Coun Graham Walton, cabinet member for neighbourhoods and street scene, said: “We’re looking on this as a fantastic opportunity to introduce a new area of native woodland to the park, which will provide habitats and food sources for a more diverse range of wildlife.

“The existing trees are a familiar sight, but some are now suffering various stages of decay. In order to ensure that the park’s historic landscape is conserved for the long term we decided that the best plan was to replace the existing line of trees with a new area of woodland that will be far longer lived and more in-keeping with the park’s other woodlands.”

Felling of the existing 29 trees will be completed later this month, while the new deciduous trees, which include hornbeam, larch, field maple and various oaks, will take place in February.