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17
Apr 2022
Green Shoots: Keeping Harrogate district trees healthy
If there is one thing the people of Harrogate can actually agree on, it's that our trees make it a healthier and better place to live.
Beech trees help soak up pollution from cars on Otley Road and the cherry blossoms provide a brilliant show at this time of year on the Stray.
David Humberstone has been a tree surgeon all his working life and owns The Tree People in Harrogate. A tree surgeon is responsible for the care and general treatment of trees to keep them healthy.
He said people are passionate about their trees here:
Trees face many threats, from diseases like Ash Dieback to the recent storms, but often it's people's own tastes and preferences about how they look that can put them at risk.
Harrogate Borough Council receives around 1,400 planning applications a year from residents wanting to prune, chop or cut down trees, often in their gardens.
Mr Humberstone said part of his job is persuading people that sometimes less is more, and not intervening can help a tree live a longer and healthier life in the long run.
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Plant more trees
The Climate Change Committee says the UK should be planting 30,000 hectares of trees a year, but we're still some way off that target.
Harrogate Borough Council is currently planting 10,000 trees in Bilton Fields as well as at Upper Horse Shoe Fields in Knaresborough.
The planting is part of the government’s White Rose Forest initiative to create 10 community forests in England. Oak, hornbeam, hazel, alder, cherry, crab apple and other native trees will be planted.
Mr Humberstone said it's vital that more trees are planted in the district, whether on a large scale or in someone's back garden.
He said:
And whilst the equation that more trees will improve the environment is straightforward, they have other benefits that you might not know about.
Mr Humberstone added:
Built environment
Like many of us, Mr Humberstone has a couple of favourite trees that he likes to admire as he works around Harrogate.
And as Harrogate's built environment has continued to grow with new housing developments and buildings, sometimes leading to conflict with the natural environment, Mr Humberstone said he will always be fighting the tree's corner.
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