Hundreds of trees planted at Lancashire beauty spot to help council's climate change plan take root

A thousand trees have been planted at Yarrow Meadows by FCC Environment, as part of Chorley Council’s wider plans to tackle climate change, after declaring a Climate Emergency in November 2019.

Coun Alistair Bradley, leader of Chorley Council, said: “Our Green Agenda and wider plan for Chorley is moving at a very fast pace now. We are thrilled to be working with FCC Environment to get more trees planted in the borough. This is another milestone on our journey towards planting 116,000 trees in the borough by 2025 (one for every Chorley resident) – part of our commitment to become carbon neutral.

“It’s a big task and we are working with partners such as FCC Environment, other landowners in the borough, as well as involving residents to help achieve this goal.”

Chorley Council in partnership with FCC Environment, one of the UK’s leading recycling and waste management companies, identified several areas along the River Yarrow for tree planting, which led to 1,000 native species including hazel, willow, blackthorn, birch, oak and rowan being planted at Yarrow Meadows, part of Yarrow Valley Country Park.

Paul Brightwell, Restoration and Ecology Manager, FCC Environment said: “This is a fantastic initiative and one that we are very proud to be involved in. The project will not only help Chorley Council meet its tree planting targets but will also benefit Chorley residents for generations to come.”

The council is working in partnership with other landowners in the Borough who are dedicated to planting trees, to improve biodiversity, reduce surface water runoff, provide shade to water courses and reduce evaporation and improve air quality. So far, 10,000 trees have been planted since 2019 with plans to plant a further 20,000 trees in 2021 and are on target to meet their goal.

Most recently, areas such as Astley Park, Chorley Town Centre and Great Knowley have benefited from trees being planted, with plans to plant in many more areas such as Euxton, Coppull, Chorley and Eaves Green over the next month.

The council is also keen to hear from anyone who has planted trees on their land, so they can add these to the number of trees being planted in the borough. Email [email protected] with the site location, numbers of trees planted and date of planting.