Team work for Tree Planting in the City

An initiative to plant thousands of trees across Stoke-on-Trent is well underway.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council partnered with Water Plus – which has its main office in the Riverside Park complex in Stoke-on-Trent, and is supporting the tree planting project. A total of 50 fruit trees are to be planted at the Fenpark Hilltop allotment site in Fenpark Road, Fenton and other location in the city.

The trees are being planted during National Tree Week, an annual celebration of trees and marks the start of the planting season that runs from November to March each year.

Water Plus staff – Karl Mansfield, Customer Awareness Advocate and Krystel Gibson, a Key Account Manager with Water Plus who works with the council – joined Deputy Lord Mayor Cllr Faisal Hussain and allotments champion, Cllr Lesley Adams at the allotment site to place the first trees, which include plum, cherry, apple and pear trees.

Cllr Carl Edwards, Cabinet Member for Housing and Environment at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “Trees play a vital role in the city to provide habitat for biodiversity, help reduce flooding, stabilise land and offset carbon. They are also vital in allowing residents of Stoke-on-Trent to make the best use of outdoor spaces around the City. We are incredibly pleased that Water Plus is supporting tree-planting, making a difference to communities and increasing green spaces, along with all the environmental benefits from these.”

Krystel Gibson, from Water Plus, said: “As we’re committed to making sustainability and minimising our environmental impact core to our business, our people and our customers, we’re taking action – including increasing tree-planting in Staffordshire and the UK. From helping sites install water reduction approaches and extra tracking, to highlighting how water efficiency helps organisations and Net Zero aims, plus increasing tree-planting and trialling technology to use water more effectively, we’ll continue taking action as part of our Commitment to the Environment.”

The water retailer received an international Green Apple Environment Award, National Silver, this month for its work in three main areas including: helping identify water waste at organisations, raising awareness across sectors and advising on water-saving technology and increasing partnerships with community groups to reduce environmental impacts, along with supporting tree planting.

Cllr Lesley Adams, allotments champion, said: “Demand for our allotments sites is really high, and the standards that people keep them to is amazing. These trees will help to further improve our already fantastic allotments which are beneficial to mental and physical wellbeing.”

Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr Faisal Hussain said: “I’d like to thank Water Plus for funding this planting in support of National Tree Week. As a city we are extremely proud of our green space and it’s fantastic to see local organisations helping to support our tree planting aims.”

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is also working with the Woodland Trust to plant over 11,000 trees around the city as part of the Big Climate Fightback.

More information about tree-planting Water Plus is supporting through its partnerships, and other steps the company is taking to help organisations and reduce impacts on the environment, is available at: www.water-plus.co.uk/news-and-events/news. More on steps organisations can take to reduce water waste, reduce future running costs and lower Greenhouse Gas emissions under Scopes 1, 2 and 3, can be found at: www.water-plus.co.uk/sustainability

More information about tree-planting by Stoke-on-Trent City Council is available at: www.stoke.gov.uk/bigclimatefightback

(Main image Deputy Lord Mayor Cllr Faisal Hussain, Karl Mansfield, Customer Awareness Advocate and Krystel Gibson, a Key Account Manager – both from Water Plus – and Cllr Lesley Adams, allotments champion. Courtesy of Water Plus and Stoke-on-Trent City Council.)