AN environmental campaigner has criticised a council after hundreds of young trees planted as part of a new woodland died.

Chris Southall, of Burrs Road, Clacton, joined between 30 and 40 other volunteers to plant trees at Rush Green Recreation Ground in Clacton three years ago.

The volunteers had been invited by Tendring Council to help create a new woodland at the former rubbish tip.

Hawthorn, oak, wild cherry, field maple and mountain ash were all planted with the council stating, at the time, that they should survive for 100 years.

Mr Southall said: “A few years ago I joined a happy gang of volunteers organised by the council to plant trees near the recycling centre.

“I went to look at them and sadly, of the hundreds planted, only a handful have survived and those look very sorry for themselves.

“They have been swamped with grass and weeds and probably have had no water.

“It was a wasted effort by a lot of community volunteers, a waste of the small trees and making nonsense of the council’s avowed policy to tackle climate change by planting trees.”

Gazette:

Dead - trees planted as part of a new woodland at Rush Green Recreation Ground, Clacton

Michael Talbot, Tendring Council’s cabinet member for environment, said tree planting was an important part of the authority’s climate action plan.

“This specific scheme has been blighted by issues outside of our control, including drought during the first lockdown – when we could not maintain our open spaces to the same degree as usual – and also vandalism,” he said.

“While the canes and tree guards have been repeatedly stolen, the site is being managed.

“This includes moisture management - like many other land owners we do not water whips - young trees - as there are too many to water effectively, instead we mulch them heavily to retain moisture.

“We are waiting for the end of spring to see which trees have re-shooted this season at Rush Green Recreation Ground to then save those which can be.

“This was one of the early tree planting schemes, which I had the pleasure of attending, and since then we have carried out many more across the district with great success.”