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Sefton Council’s Green Sefton service has overseen the planting of 3,230 new trees in its most recent, November to March planting season.

This winter’s planting branched across 19 of the Borough’s wards in parks, woodland areas and along its highways.

Residents might have noticed the 230 larger size trees that are now taking root along streets and in parks. Less noticeable but equally as important are the 3,000 saplings planted as woodland that will eventually become high-density areas, great for wildlife to thrive. 

Cllr Ian Moncur, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, said: “Sefton is a clean, green and beautiful place to live in and to visit and the Council is dedicated to maintaining its green spaces, which includes looking after 90,000 trees.

“Our small but expert Tree and Woodland team, which is part of our Green Sefton service, has done a sterling job this season, overseeing the planting of thousands of new trees across nearly all of our wards.

“Not only does this enrich our already green Borough, it comes at a time when we have seen unprecedented use of our outdoors spaces by residents and visitors alike. What’s more, continued tree planting contributes towards our continuing action on climate change.”  

Earlier this week, Sefton Council confirmed it is on track to be net zero carbon by 2030 after it published its Climate Emergency Annual Report. Tree planting has a vital role to play in this work which, in time, will reduce the amount of carbon in our atmosphere and contribute further net carbon reductions.

The Council also works in partnership with organisations like the Mersey Forest with woodland planting across Sefton, and community groups who would like to support this activity in their area.

Cllr Moncur added: “Restrictions due to the pandemic, mean that sadly we haven’t been able to undertake our planting with community groups and volunteers as we have done in previous years, but we can’t wait to work with them once more now that our volunteering activity is taking place again.”

The Tree and Woodland team are working towards a strategy that will set out the Council’s goals with respect to maintaining, conserving and enhancing tree cover in the Borough over the next 20 years and beyond. It will ensure that the right trees are planted in the right places.

The decision to remove any tree across Sefton is taken extremely seriously by the Council and is always undertaken in the interests of health and safety. 

If residents would like to know more about the work of the Tree and Woodland team, or have a request or question about tree planting in their ward, they can email trees@sefton.gov.uk or visit the Council’s dedicated tree pages on its website.  

Sefton Council is looking to bring back a pop-up food and drink offer at Crosby Coastal Park later this summer following a well-received 28-day trial at the popular location.

Sefton-based owners of The Bus Yard took part in the trial, operating from a double decker bus near to the Marine Lake, overlooking the beach.

From fish finger butties to chocolate brownies and cocktails, the street food-style outlet has been incredibly popular with residents and visitors alike over the past four weeks.

Cllr Ian Moncur, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, said: “Our Green Sefton Service is gearing up for a busy few months ahead and are proactively looking at ways to ensure our coast offers the best possible experience for all beach users.

“They’ve worked really closely with the local business who took part in the trial, as well as understanding community concerns about any adverse effects such as littering that might result from an offer like this.

“I’m really pleased to report that we’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback during the pop-up which finished at the weekend, so much so that we are exploring options to bring the bus back later this summer.

“The team at The Bus Yard even took part in a beach clean-up following the busy late May Bank Holiday, showing their dedication and commitment to working alongside the Council and volunteers to keep Crosby looking clean and tidy.

“I would urge anyone with further thoughts to get in touch to tell us what they feel worked well or perhaps didn’t work as well. We often get asked to provide more hospitality facilities at the coast, so your input on a trial like this is vital to ensure we get the right offer for everyone, balancing the needs of our people and our environment.”

Feedback can be submitted by email to the Green Sefton team greensefton@sefton.gov.uk

Andy Laird, The Bus Yard, said: ‘’We have had an amazing time at Crosby over the last month and its success has gone beyond our expectations. Feedback has been really positive from the local community and visitors.’’

Planning approval was recently received for another pop-up food and drink trial at Ainsdale beach.

Plans are still being finalised, but it is hoped that the shipping container units that will house the temporary offer will be in place by the middle of July, with a trial running there until the late autumn.

Feedback from both the Crosby and Ainsdale trials will be reviewed later this year, before considering how more permanent facilities might be arranged from 2022.