West Leeds residents can support a city-wide tree planting project this autumn by collecting and dropping off seeds at four venues in Armley, Farnley and Kirkstall.
Leeds City Council wants to plant 5.8m trees over 25 years in parks and green spaces across the city as part of its wide-ranging work through its woodland creation programme to tackle the climate emergency and to meet its aim of making Leeds carbon neutral by 2030.
People of all ages are now being offered the chance toget involved and help Leeds reach this target through the ‘Collect Tree Seeds for Leeds’ programme, which is held annually from September to November.
Residents who want to get involved are being asked to collect four tree seed species, including acorns, beech nuts, chestnuts and conkers. More information on the program can be found on the Arium website.
Once the seeds are collected, they can be deposited at one of 12 seed collection points that are in place across the city. The tree seeds will then be taken to the council’s designated specialist plant nursery and garden centre the ‘Arium’, where they are sewn and grown to be planted back into Leeds parks and green spaces. In 2020, 37,000 tree seeds were gathered in the city for potential planting in the future.
The Woodland Creation initiative, which is managed by the council’s parks service, will see the planting of new woodlands to capture carbon, increase biodiversity by creating habitats for birds, animals and insects.
Councillor Helen Hayden, Leeds City Council’s executive member for climate and infrastructure, said:
“It is absolutely vital that if we are to make positive progress in tackling climate change, that everyone in in our city and communities works closely together to help us achieve our aims. I am delighted to say that the response that we have had from residents to projects such as Collect Tree Seeds for Leeds project has been absolutely tremendous, and we are looking forward to seeing even more tree seeds collected this autumn.”
People can collect acorns, beech nuts, sweet chestnuts and conkers and place in the boxes at locations below.
Locations
1 Temple Newsam Café.
2 Gotts Manor Golf Club, Armley.
3 The Arium.
4 Three Cottages Café, Meanwood Park.
5 Farnley Hall Park.
6 Middleton Park Visitor Centre.
7 Golden Acre Park Café.
8 Tropical World gift shop.
9 Kirkstall Abbey Gift Shop.
10 White House Café Outdoor Seating, Otley Chevin.
11 TCV Hollybush Kirkstall.
12 Wetherby Town Hall.