Over 2,700 trees and shrubs planted by children in Sheffield parks

With expert help from Sheffield City Council’s (SCC) Community Forestry Team and local not-for-profit organisation Kids Plant Trees, local communities have been working hard over the last few weeks to plant over 2700 trees and shrubs across neighbouring parks of Longley and Parsons Cross.

The parks have been a hive of activity over recent weeks with 9 local schools and more than 150 young people involved in tree planting, along with 107 grown-ups and 3 local businesses. The aim of the scheme is to enhance these greenspaces for the longer term, targeting areas across the city that have lower tree equity whilst ensuring designs that are sensitive to the existing parks’ settings. The trees and shrubs planted have been chosen so that they should thrive now and into the future.

The Community Forestry team have also planted more than 60 standard trees in the parks, and plan to continue planting trees across local housing land next year. Find out more about the project ‘More Trees for Southey, Longley & Parson Cross‘.

“We’ve had some amazing feedback from pupils, young people and teaching staff about the fun of planting, mulching the new trees and the opportunity to help nature on their doorstep. One boy told us he wanted to be a professional footballer when he’s older but might plant trees instead!” – Anna Parkin, Kids Plant Trees

The project is a result of collaboration between Sheffield City Council’s Community Forestry team and South Yorkshire Woodland Partnership. This project is funded by the Grow Back Greener programme, led by the Woodland Trust and delivered in collaboration with the wider Northern Forest partnership, as part of the Government’s Nature for Climate Fund. It is one of a number of tree planting schemes that the South Yorkshire Woodland Partnership have helped with over the recent planting season.

Now with the 25/26 planting season at an end, the South Yorkshire Woodland Partnership team are seeking new projects to develop for future planting seasons. If you’re interested in planting trees on your land (for FREE!), visit the South Yorkshire Woodland Partnership page below.