Over 8,500 Trees and Shrubs Planted Across Torfaen by Bron Afon and Torfaen Council

“A lasting impact for our communities to enjoy for years to come”: Bron Afon and Torfaen Council plant more than 8,500 trees, saplings, whips and shrubs across Torfaen.”

Our Tree team has been working with members of Torfaen Council’s Environment team to plant native trees and hedges in communities throughout Torfaen.

It’s part of the “Branching Out Project”, which is funded by The Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent Local Nature Partnership through Welsh Government Local Places for Nature programme.

Mark Burchell, Specialist Team Leader, Trees, Bron Afon, said: “An amazing amount of effort has been put into the behind-the-scenes planning, as well as the on-site planting for this project.

“By the end of spring, our teams will have planted around 150 large, more established trees in and around Bron Afon estates throughout the borough. They include oak, cherry, sorbus, birch and thorn trees, along with several hundred smaller hazel and beech saplings/whips and a variety of shrubs to create new hedging, which will help to re-establish some old and tired looking hedges on Bron Afon’s land.

In similar planting projects linked to the Branching Out Project, teams from Bron Afon and Torfaen Council have planted several thousand small whips, saplings and shrubs, with a selection of larger native trees on Torfaen Council owned land and within the grounds of local schools. This brings the combined total of units planted to more than 8,500.

Mark added, “We are grateful to our partners at Torfaen Council for helping us to make this happen. We hope it will not only help to enhance biodiversity and wildlife habitats but also make a lasting visual impact for our communities to enjoy for years to come.”

Kristen Thobroe, Local Places for Nature Delivery Officer, Torfaen Council, said: “It has been fantastic to be able to work together with Bron Afon to plant so many trees across Torfaen and we will continue to work together in the future to plant more. There are so many benefits to planting trees — they improve air quality, support biodiversity, conserve water, enhance community well-being, and help combat climate change.”

You can find out more about the Branching Out project here: https://getinvolved.torfaen.gov.uk/branching-out.