Cheshire Tree Alliance

The alliance started with a chat over coffee in autumn 2023 between members of tree groups in Wilmslow and Knutsford. There were shared concerns that a combination of overly stringent Cheshire East Council policies and a lack of responsiveness were preventing community groups from planting trees in these two towns.

​

The chat concluded with a decision to run a Tree Conference to bring together local tree groups across the county. This took place in January 2024, hosted by Congleton Town Council. Over 60 people participated, representing 19 Cheshire East towns and parishes and a number of funding organisations.

​​

[can hyperlink to Conference programme?]

​​

A lively discussion at the conference led to the formation of a Development Committee made up from a representative selection of community groups from across Cheshire East. The Committee works across a range of themes and aims to bring a joined-up approach to dealing with Cheshire East Council. Many participants at the Conference and representing tree groups are members of local town and parish councils seeking support for tree planting.

​

The Development Committee currently has representatives from Wilmslow, Knutsford, Congleton, Macclesfield, Crewe, Sandbach, Alsager, Goostrey, Cheshire Wildlife Trust and Mersey Forest. Different towns take turns to host and chair meetings (so far, Wilmslow, Knutsford and Sandbach). The agreed name “Cheshire Tree Alliance” encompasses the idea of a grouping of groups rather than an individual membership organisation and offers a welcome to tree groups from Cheshire West should they wish to get involved. Outputs from meetings are shared in ad hoc mailings to member groups and other interested parties.

​

If you’d like to be added to the mailing list, contact TWTreeGroup@gmail.com

​

[Can hyperlink to copies of past mailings??]

​

Events

Following the success of the inaugural Cheshire Tree Conference, a second conference has been scheduled for Sunday 6th April  2025, 11am to 3pm at Sandbach Town Hall. Provisional topics:

• Grant funding and support from Mersey Forest

• How to start a Tree Nursery – Cheshire Wildlife Trust

• A speaker from Birmingham TreePeople on how they transformed their City Council’s approach to Tree Planting

​​

Workstreams

Different workstreams have been set up to bring the right experience to each theme and to share the work involved in making change happen. Each workstream is intended to take leadership on behalf of organisations in the CTA, to drive change on a given theme across the county by:

• identifying those with knowledge and expertise and seeking their input or support

• collating best practice within Cheshire or in other UK locations to share with CTA

• identifying interested groups within Cheshire who want help to implement local change

• finding exemplar projects locally and supporting set-up of pilots to spearhead change

• challenging rate-limiting policies or practices at CEC level

• using CTA to disseminate the art of the possible through comms, events or training

 

The workstream themes agreed so far are:

​

Highway Tree Planting (led by Paddy Johnson, Transition Wilmslow)

Most land adjacent to streets and roads throughout Cheshire is owned and controlled by CEC Highways department. The urgent need for succession and new tree planting is very evident. The benefits of street trees are well documented. This workstream theme seeks:

​​

• to work with CEC Highways Dept to enable improvement of their adopted tree planting policies, by providing evidence of more progressive policies and Best Practice adopted in other UK locations.

• to ensure planting is not unnecessarily restricted by cost constraints internal to CEC, for example by improving the ability of CTA groups to work collaboratively to enable CEC to access alternative funding sources that can be deployed across a wide range of planting opportunities  

• to identify pilot schemes with input and support from local residents as opportunities for street tree planting

​​​

Accelerating Tree Planting on amenity and rural land (led by Paul Kemsley, Goostrees)

Key elements of this theme are:

• Bridging the gap between volunteer planting groups/ town and parish councils/Cheshire East Council to address the time taken to obtain permission to plant and the various hurdles CEC/ ANSA put in the way of volunteers in tree groups wishing to plant trees on amenity land (excluding land managed by CEC Highways)

• accessing grant funding relevant to local urban and rural projects. A key element of this workstream will be to understand how, by grouping small projects together, large funding streams can be accessed that only local authorities or large organisations are eligible to apply for and which CEC may not be accessing at present.

• Supporting rural planting by communicating available support and best practice

• Disseminating guidance that can help local tree-planting groups run effectively

​​​

Tree Propagation (led by  Andy Stubbs & Dan Nash, Cheshire Wildlife Trust)

Cheshire Wildlife Trust wishes to support groups growing their own stock of trees and plants. Dan Nash, who has an interest in global genetics and preserving and enhancing stock, would like to connect with growers to understand their local capacity and what support they might need, e.g. advice on making the best of shared facilities, or on propagation and growing.

​​

Tree Mapping (led by Kevin Griffiths, Knutsford Town Amongst Trees)

The benefits of a group being able to map its local trees can include enabling their local activities and providing a strategic tool with potential impact on the wider county and beyond. Many different tree mapping solutions exist. Key elements for the mapping theme are:

​​

• To highlight to CTA members the uses of mapping and what can be gained from it, e.g. ongoing monitoring of tree cover/numbers/age profile; identifying key areas for planting; gathering evidence to support requests for permission for tree planting schemes and associated applications for grant funding

• To assess and record which systems are in use by different CTA groups and the extent to which mapping has been completed

• To compare existing systems in terms of cost, functionality and ease of use for both the data recorder and the end user of maps, and to make recommendations based on this

• To advise and/or assist others in CTA with implementation of mapping

• To coordinate ongoing support for groups implementing mapping systems and to monitor progress for the CTA as a whole.

​​​

Community Consultation (led by Trees for Congleton)

• This is a new workstream, agreed by the Development Committee in October, and concerns sharing best practice in consulting local residents about tree planting schemes. A detailed scope will be added in due course. 

​​

Contact

To get in touch or request to join our mailing list, contact: TWTreeGroup@gmail.com

Our mailings provide updates of recent activities, future events and any new grant opportunities that have come to our attention that relate to trees and community planting.

We also have a Facebook page: www.facebook.com/cheshire.trees.2024