KNUTSFORD Town Council wants to hear from residents on its plans to plant almost 7,000 trees across the town as part of its Nature Action Plan.

The council is consulting on its Tree Planting Plan which aims to deliver over half of its target of seeing 13,000 trees planted in Knutsford to tackle climate change and improve biodiversity and wildlife.

The proposals include planting more than 250 1.5m to 2.4m specimen trees on verges and open spaces, with a further 6,600 whips planted to create large new areas of woodland in suitable areas, including an extension to St John’s Wood.

The plan also sets out proposals to replace four fences around open spaces with hedges and identifies a number of verges where additional wildlife friendly planting could be supported.

“We adopted our Nature Action Plan in March this year as part of our commitment to make Knutsford a greener and more wildlife friendly town. Our planting plan is a key part of this and will drastically increase the number of trees in the town,” said town clerk Adam Keppel-Green.

“We see it as a win-win, the town will look more beautiful, CO2 will be absorbed from the air and locked away and in time wildlife will flourish.”

The council’s Nature Action Plan working group has identified areas where additional planting will not affect the existing use of open spaces and has chosen a range of native and ornamental trees suitable for each location.

Adam added: “We would like residents to view our proposals and let us know what they think of the areas we plant and what we plan to plan.

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"We’ll review all feedback received and finalise a planting plan in early 2021 with the intention to complete all planting over the next three years”.

To view the tree planting plan and submit your feedback visit knutsfordtowncouncil.gov.uk/consultations. The consultation runs to December 18.