Biodiversity Duty Report January 2026 - Appendix 1: Tree Planting in Walsall

In 2025, Walsall established 14,952 trees across 61 sites, covering 7.93 hectares. This was undertaken through three tree planting projects (Tree for Climate, Coronation Living Heritage Fund  and Urban Tree Challenge Fund (UTCF)) with full details for each project provided below. 

The future proposals following the success of these projects it to focus on restocking sites.

Trees for Climate (Woodland Planting)

Trees for Climate, in partnership with Walsall’s local Community Forest, supports large-scale tree planting projects to establish new woodlands and enhance local biodiversity.

The focus was on high-volume whip planting, creating connected and resilient woodland habitats and ensuring ongoing management to allow these young woodlands to thrive and deliver lasting environmental and community benefits. 

Native species planted included Field Maple, Common Alder, Silver Birch, Downy Birch, Hornbeam, Dogwood, Hazel, Hawthorn, Quince, Sindle, Crab Apple, Scot’s Pine, European Aspen, Wild Cherry, European Pear, Common Oak, Alder Buckthorn, European Gooseberry, Raspberry, Goat Willow, Rowan, Small-leaved Lime, Common Gorse, Wych Elm and Guelder Rose. 

In 2025 we established over 14,000 trees, across 16 sites, covering 5.6 hectares, full details are provided in the table below:

Coronation Living Heritage Fund (Community Orchards)

The Coronation Living Heritage Fund supports the creation of community orchards and small woodlands to deliver lasting environmental and social benefits in celebration of the King’s Coronation. 

Funding covered the supply, planting and establishment of trees, with specifications tailored to each site needs. The aim of these orchards is to not only increase biodiversity, but also pursue long term community engagement with council green space assets. Species planted include a wide variety of apple, plums, cherry, damsons, and hazel tree species. 

In 2025 we established over 415 trees, across 24 sites, covering 1.08 hectares. Full details are provided in the table below: 

Urban Tree Challenge Fund (Urban and Peri-Urban)

The Urban Tree Challenge Fund (UTCF), accessed via Trees for Cities, provided the capital funding to support the planting and establishment of large trees as part of climate action and green infrastructure delivery. Species planting includes a mixture of native and non-native species. Native species included Common Alder, Silver Birch and Rowan.

In 2025, we established 512 heavy standards across 21 sites, covering 1.25 hectares. Full details of location, planting numbers and area planted are provided in the table below.