Research group wants communities to have a ‘right to plant’ in public spaces to make street greener
Create Streets has urged the government to set up an ‘urban greening task force’ to increase the amount of greenery in public spaces.
Rishi Sunak should declare a national mission to prevent unnecessary felling of trees and set robust targets for urban greenery, the built environment research group said in a new report.
Other recommendations included a new ‘right to plant’, allowing individuals and communities to grow certain types of vegetation in pre-approved sites such as public spaces, pavements and and in front of houses, offices and shops.
The proposal is inspired by a permit in Bordeaux, France, where since 2020 residents and businesses have been provided with expertise and resources to plant greenery “wherever they possible can”.
Despite a planning requirement in force since 2020 for trees on every street, recently built neighbourhoods have up to 40% less greenery than those built in the late 19th and early 20th century.
There is also a significant wealth divide, with the ten most prosperous places having tree cover of 25%, compared to 15% in the ten least prosperous, according to the report, Greening up, which has been supported by housebuilder Berkeley.
Rory Stewart, broadcaster, former Tory MP and former London mayoral candidate, said: “Little can be more important to the web and weave of our neighbourhoods than re-planting millions of street trees up and down the land.
“This important report from Create Streets shows why we aren’t planting street trees and how to fix it. I hope that every politician from north and south, left and right reads it and acts on it. Britain would be the better for it.”
The report also proposes detailed guidance for highways engineers to make it the norm to include greenery along all streets and roads, and an investigation into how to balance the value of trees with the risks presented by them, such as subsidence.
Chief executive of housing association Peabody, Ian McDermott, described the report as “essential reading for those who care about the future of our towns and cities”.
Create Streets founder Nicholas Boys Smith, who is also also chair of the advisory board for the government’s Office for Place, added that street trees are a “wonder drug” for making places better, cleaner, happier and healthier.
“What was once a ripple of conjecture is now a storm surge of evidence,” he said.
“For the first time this report examines the hidden wiring of incentives, regulations and outdated policy which prevents tree-planting and lifts the lid on why strategic statements of intent are not translating into sufficient ‘greening up’ on the ground.
“We make detailed and actionable recommendations for how national and local government could slice through this Gordian knot so that trees, not tarmac, and living in verdant and tree-lined streets and squares could once again become the natural condition for us all.”
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