I’m reading through the detail of Southwark Council’s new Tree Strategy. They’re determined to do better, and while there are still some significant oversights – the maintenance and inspection regime is too infrequent – they now recognise the value of community involvement. This is where the Pimp Your Pavement approach intends to help and really needs to so the weakness in the official maintenance regime can be overcome.
Here’s the quote:
4.5 Community involvement – Community involvement has the potential to provide additional resources for tree management and maintenance. Past planting projects in Southwark have demonstrated that, when local residents are involved in planting and maintenance, new planting have a better survival rate, are less likely to be vandalised and give a sense of ownership to the local community.
Read the full document here: http://www.southwark.gov.uk/downloads/download/2621/tree_strategy
