Tree planting - how we can work together

Bradford Council and its partners are committed to creating a district that is sustainable and resilient as well as being a pleasant place to live, work and visit.  Looking after our trees and planting more will help to deliver many benefits:

• Cooling: urban trees provide shade and help to cool our neighbourhoods;
• Health and Wellbeing: tree lined green streets can lift our mood and make our active travel more enjoyable;
• Flood Prevention: trees slow the flow of heavy rainfall reducing the risk of flood;
• Biodiversity: trees provide homes for birds, bats and insects;
• Materials and food: productive trees provide timber, fibre, fruit and nuts, along with job opportunities;
• Carbon Capture: trees remove carbon from the atmosphere to reduce the impact of Global Warming.

As a community we now need to urgently plant millions of trees to increase the area of land with trees from 13% to at least 17% by 2050.  We can do this by converting grassland to woodland and planting more trees in urban areas.

How you can help

• Sponsor a tree through Trees for Streets
• Volunteer to plant trees with YorGreen, Forest of Bradford, Bradford Environmental Education Service (BEES), Aire Rivers Trust
• Plant trees and woodland on your land: The White Rose Forest (WRF), of which Bradford Council is a partner, is looking for landowners, farmers and communities who can support them by having more trees planted on their land, contact the White Rose Forest - they can also give landowners or land managers access to funding for this
• Look after a community orchard with our partners Fruit Works Co-operative.

The story so far

Bradford Council has been working to increase tree cover for over 20 years and is a founding member of the White Rose Forest.  This work was recognised in 2020 when we became a Tree City of the World.

In 2019 the Council declared a Climate Emergency and launched A Tree for Every Child, working with our key partners Trees for Cities to highlight the need to tackle Global Warming by involving schools in planting 55,000 trees – one for each primary school student. 

We are converting some of our own grassland to woodland and encouraging other land owners to take action and plant more trees in woodlands, hedgerows, orchards or as part of mixed farming systems that combine grazing and trees.

If you would like to find out more about our tree planting work or get involved, email  woodlands@bradford.gov.uk.