Representatives from St John’s Primary School’s Eco-Council were on hand to help our Estates Team implement our one-out-three-in tree policy – a mission outlined in our Play Area and Open Space Strategy, which states that for every tree that needs removing, we commit to planting three new trees in its place.
The Deputy Mayor, Councillor Mick Wise, and our Head of Estates, Ali Olgivie, were on hand to welcome the children to Lemsford Village Hall, where an area has been redeveloped between the car park and play area, adjacent to the football pitch.
Once gathered, Eco-Council member Evie explained that “we are all elected onto the Eco Council and do eco projects like reducing plastic and planting”. Ali, in turn, explained that whilst the Estates Team and Hatfield Town Council do lots of day to day maintenance to look after a number of the parks, play areas and sport pitches around Hatfield and Lemsford, they also thought about the future. “Unfortunately sometimes we need to take a tree out because its got a disease or is creating a safety hazard due to age, size and falling branches. However because we care about the future, we have promised to plant three trees for every one we are forced to take out.”
Since we introduced our one-out-three-in policy, we have planted over 300 trees or tree saplings across the parish, which covers Hatfield, Lemsford and Newgate Street Village.
Cllr Mick Wise and St John’s teacher Nicole Young looked on as the six Eco Council Members helped the Estate Team plant three Weeping Cherry Trees. This tree planting is just one part of overall improvements that we are making to the picturesque community asset in Lemsford, which includes the installation of an all-weather path to make the playground more accessible, a new alternative land management strip designed to increase biodiversity, new benches and a new bug hotel (built using repurposed wood from the tree that was taken out). The playground itself is also earmarked for an upgrade, which will be implemented when funding becomes available.
After the trees were planted, the Eco Council named the trees Willow, Bob and Freya-Sophia and were keen to come back and check on their progress over the coming weeks. However, the Eco Council also had their own homework, as they received a number of poppy and butterfly-friendly seed mixes and agreed to plant them and keep a diary of their progress, before reporting back to the Town Council.
On what was a stunning, sunny morning, Cllr Mick Wise remarked “community open spaces are so important to all of us, with proven benefits to our mental health and physical wellbeing. We hope the improvements we are making, with a little help from our friends at St Johns, prove popular and are enjoyed by the local community for years to come”.
