Cardiff hits 100,000 tree milestone in citywide planting project

Chloe from Cardiff Council's Coed Caerdydd team planted the project's 100,000th tree. Photo credit: Cardiff Council

Cardiff councillors and community volunteers have worked together to plant 100,000 trees to help tackle climate change.

The 100,000th tree was planted earlier this year as part of Cardiff Council’s urban forest project, Coed Caerdydd.

Around four years after the project was started, the tree in question - an oak - was planted in Greenway Park, Rumney.

Cabinet Member for Culture, Parks and Events, Cllr Jennifer Burke, said: "Planting 100,000 new trees in just four years is a remarkable achievement.

“As they grow and start to do all the incredible things that trees do - clean the air, help mitigate flooding, keep people cool in summer, provide habitats for wildlife and simply make Cardiff a greener more pleasant place to live - they will also make a significant contribution towards our vision for a carbon neutral Cardiff,” adding that a “huge thank you” went to “all the volunteers who have helped us achieve so much”.

The project is part of Cardiff Council’s response to climate change, One Planet Cardiff, and aims to increase the amount of tree coverage from 18% to 25% over ten years.

Around 7,000 volunteers have helped in “every corner” of the city - parks and green spaces, streets and school grounds with the aim to have 10,000 more trees placed by the end of this planting season.

Cllr Burke continued: "There's plenty of work still to be done over the coming weeks. I know from experience that volunteering with the project is great fun as well as being really rewarding and I'd encourage as many people as possible to get involved and join us at a community tree planting session."

This comes after three rare Gabalfa apples trees were also planted for the first time in what is thought to be a 100 years as part of the project.