Council to plant more than 1000 trees after storms across Merseyside wreak havoc

More than 1,000 trees were damaged in Liverpool during recent violent storms across the region and the city council has announced plans to plant a swathe of new saplings.

A report to Liverpool City Council’s neighbourhoods committee on Wednesday said the region had faced six storms between November 2021 and February this year.

The report’s author, councillor Abdul Qadir, Liverpool City Council’s cabinet member for neighbourhoods and community safety, said the council normally expects between 10 to 15 trees to be damaged in any storm, but over 1,101 trees were damaged during the recent storms.

A total of 871 trees were damaged across Liverpool in November during Storm Arwen alone, which was described as the worst storm ‘for over a decade’ with the UK facing north westerly gusts reaching 90mph.

Cllr Qadir estimated it would take up to early summer this year for work on all storm damaged trees to be resolved as ‘one job could take 45 minutes and another could be days’.

All tree branches are mulched with some of the mulch going to allotments and parks to be reused.

He added that around 650 trees were completely lost over the four-month period.

During 2021 the council handled more than 6,300 tree-related enquires.

More trees to be planted over the next three years

Liverpool City Council said it is planting more than 1,200 trees over the next three years and is also working with partners such as the Mersey Forest.

Mersey Forest director, Paul Nolan, said: “The team is working closely with the city council not just to plant trees to compensate for those lost in the storm, but also to get even more trees planted in the right places to help the city to adapt to climate change  and enhance biodiversity.

“Programmes such as Urban GreenUP, Northern Forest, Urban Tree Challenge Fund and Trees for Climate continue to provide funding and support for a wide range of projects.”