About the campaign
The Big Tree Plant launched in December 2010. It’s a campaign to increase the number of trees planted in towns, cities and neighbourhoods throughout England.
The Big Tree Plant is a national partnership bringing together the wide range of organisations who already plant trees, as well as civic and community groups working with Defra and the Forestry Commission. The logos of the national campaign partners are at the bottom of this page.
Campaign aims
The campaign is aiming to support the Big Society by getting more people involved in planting and caring for trees and establishing local community tree projects throughout England.
Current projects
Three exciting new projects have been funded by Defra and the Forestry Commission to get tree-planting underway this season:
Keep Britain Tidy – 100,000 trees across 750 sites
- Keep Britain Tidy are working with BTCV to plant trees in areas that are accessible to local communities and will be planted by children, volunteers and community groups.
- Keep Britain Tidy and BTCV – find out
The NHS Forest – 65,000 trees across 25 sites
- These projects will bring together a range of professionals and volunteers to plant trees on NHS sites and community land.
The Tree Council – 1000+ trees across four sites
- The Tree Council will work with the local council and volunteer tree wardens in the Walsall area of Birmingham to plant an orchard with the local community.
- Tree Council Big Tree Plant Opens new window
Speaking after she planted the tree, Environment Secretary for the UK Mrs Spelman said:
“Hitting the 100,000 mark is a fantastic achievement and shows how much people care about enhancing our urban green spaces.
“The number of trees in urban and semi-urban areas has dropped over recent years, so the point of this campaign is to reverse that trend so that we can all gain from the benefits that trees provide in our towns and cities.”
The Big Tree Plant campaign brings together civil society partners and conservation organisations, such as The Tree Council, Woodland Trust, Trees for Cities, England’s Community Forests, Keep Britain Tidy and others, working with Defra and the Forestry Commission. The campaign is supported by grant funding of £1 million per year for the next four years and will get more people in local communities planting and caring for trees.
Phil Barton chief executive Keep Britain Tidy said:
“We are thrilled to be involved with the Big Tree Plant. We are delighted to be able to involve hundreds of schools and communities and thousands of young people from across England working closely with our partners, BTCV and ourselves to create green and sustainable communities.”
BTCV Chief Executive Tom Flood CBE said:
“BTCV believes in positive, practical action to tackle climate change. Trees are vital to our survival and the survival of our planet – they oxygenate the air we breathe and take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. We have a duty to protect them and encourage their growth and BTCV is delighted to be involved in this exciting campaign and with our achievements at planting and distributing over 100,000 trees to date.”
