TREE, HEDGE AND WILDFLOWER PLANTING FOR PARISHES
Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils have created an action plan to improve and strengthen biodiversity (wildlife and plant life) in our area. As a starting point they're offering free trees and hedgerow plants, as well as asking for your help in locating areas for wildflowers.
Trees and Hedgerow Plants
They are offering free trees and hedgerow plants to parishes - regardless of whether you are planting on council, parish, church, or private land. All you need to do is to let them know what you want to plant and where:
Claim your free trees and hedgerow plants by filling out the simple application form.
Helpful tips for submitting your application:
- please include details about the area of land available, and any indications of the age and species of trees you would like to plant (for example, this could be new hedgerows, creating orchards, or planting to fill gaps in an existing tree or hedge row line)
- applications for more mature tree planting on the edge of developed areas, in towns or villages or as focal points in green open space are welcome
- reach out to your local tree warden network, and/or their public realm team at biodiversity@baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk, to ensure you’re planting the right trees in the right place
Further details:
- tree and hedge saplings are expected to be delivered to parishes for planting from mid-October 2021 onwards
- long term care and maintenance of trees and hedges planted under the scheme will be the responsibility of the parish or community group concerned
- they will, however, continue to be available for advice
Help shape our wildflower plans
Increasing wildflowers in the districts is also an important part of the plan.
They’ll be doing this by changing mowing regimes to let the grass grow longer, and overseeding with yellow rattle or wildflower mixes.
They need to get the seeds sown in the Autumn this year to be sure of getting wildflower patches established for Spring 2022.
But they also want your help to work together!
They’d love to talk to you about where you might want more wildflowers in 2022. Here’s what you can do to get the conversation started:
- look at which areas our public realm team already manage online, by selecting ‘public realm maintenance’
- locate areas where you’d want to make changes
- send them a map of the area
- then they can chat about how this might work in practice
Any questions, queries, or concerns about either project?
Please don’t hesitate to contact them on biodiversity@baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk