EIR - Tree Planting [Jan 2023]

You requested:

Since the 2020 financial year can you publish.

1. All documents related to where to plant trees?
2. Long term management plans for planted trees?
3. Survival rates of planted trees?

Please find below the information we hold within the scope of your request.

1. The following two datasets and accompanying technical documents, published on the London Datastore, support the spatial prioritisation of tree planting: Potential Woodland Creation Sites in London's Green Belt: Tree Canopy Cover Prioritisation Tool - London Datastore  Tree Canopy Cover Prioritisation Tool: Tree Canopy Cover Prioritisation Tool - London Datastore. The GLA has not produced any other documents related to where to plant trees since the 2019/2020 financial year.
2. We do not hold information that answers this question. As the GLA does not directly implement tree planting schemes (i.e. it is a strategic rather than local authority), it does not directly manage tree planting or management of trees once planted. For this reason, we do not hold long term management plans for planted trees. These sit with the organisations that do the planting. Trees in the public realm are mostly the responsibility of London's 32 boroughs, the City of London and Transport for London (TfL). You can find the contact details of the relevant borough tree officer on the London Tree Officers Association website here: Borough Contacts (ltoa.org.uk) For information about the trees managed by TfL, you should contact TfL’s information access team. In partnership with Trees for Cities and The Conservation Volunteers, the Mayor published a step by step planting guide that includes advice on maintaining trees: Tree Planting Leaflet . Other useful guidance includes the Forestry Commission’s (FC’s) Urban Tree Manual, which provides advice on selecting and procuring the right tree for the right place in urban areas
3. We do not hold information that answers this question. As the GLA does not directly implement tree planting schemes (i.e. it is a strategic rather than local authority), it does not directly manage tree planting or management and monitoring of trees once planted. For this reason, we do not hold information on the survival rates of planted trees. Many local authorities do monitor their street tree planting. The monitoring of funded tree planting delivered by councils varies depending on the grant scheme and the grant agreement in place. For example, FC’s Urban Tree Challenge Fund and woodland creation have monitoring requirements to check that trees are planted and also fund tree maintenance in the three years after planting. For tree planting funded through other GLA grant schemes such as Grow Back Greener, it’s a requirement that the applicant replants any trees that do not survive within the first three years.