THE first of thousands of new native trees including oak and wild cherry have been planted at Skipton’s Aireville Park.

Craven District Council, with the help of the Aire Rivers Trust and its volunteers, has planted around 1,000 whips, or young trees, on the park’s pitch and putt course.

The course is being reduced from 14 holes to nine, removing the ‘poorer quality holes’ and harder to mow areas, says the council.

Over the next few weeks, the council plans to plant 7,000 new trees in or next to the park, with a further 2,000 planned for grazing land, off Shortbank Road.

Councillor Carl Lis, lead member for Greener Craven, said the new trees will provide benefits in biodiversity, connecting woodlands, improving air quality and flood alleviation.

He said:“This is part of our climate change strategy, following our declaration of a climate emergency and is one of our key priorities for 2020 as we work towards carbon neutrality by 2030.”

Cllr Lis said the council was aware there had been concern about the use of plastic tree guards to protect newly planted trees, and had tried to cut down on the use of single use plastic.

“But the efficacy of biodegradable tree guards available at the moment is debatable. Around 40 per cent of the trees we plant will be protected with plastic; we are using rabbit fencing where possible to reduce plastic and are also speaking to other organisations to reuse their plastic tree guards.”

Cllr Andy Solloway said: “Not only did I really enjoy being a small part of the tree planting, but I welcome and plan to be directly involved in the other tree planting projects in Skipton and even beyond. Not only do these trees go towards offsetting carbon, they also help retain groundwater which helps in alleviating flooding, something which has affected Craven very recently.”

The tree-planting scheme has been funded by DEFRA’s Northern Forest fund with approximately £40,000 to fund stock proof fencing, rabbit proof fencing, stakes, guards, the 9,000 trees and the contractors.