Tree planting aspirations in Reading will be accelerated by 20 years, under new council plans.

Reading Borough Council (RBC) has decided ramp up its tree planting ambitions “in light of the global climate crisis”.

The council’s new strategy now aims to increase the amount of overall canopy cover in Reading cent to 25 per cent by 2030; a previous draft had aimed for 2050.

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Councillor Karen Rowland, lead member for Culture, Heritage and Recreation, revealed the new plan at last night’s Housing, Neighbourhoods and Leisure committee with an amendment to the new trees strategy.

She said the targets will be “very challenging” as Reading has a small footprint, a large part of which is covered by housing, roads, rivers and marshland.

The Labour councillor he said RBC cannot do it alone and has called on residents and landowners to help the council to reach the 2030 target.

The council has also upped its ambition for all wards to have at least 12 per cent canopy cover to 2030 from the previous target of 2050.

Across Reading, current canopy cover – the amount of the borough covered in trees – is 18 per cent.

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The tree strategy will now go to the Strategic Environment, Planning and Transport committee for approval on Monday (March 16).

Friends of the Earth is campaigning for tree cover to be doubled by 2045 across the UK.

Cllr Rowland said councillors would not be accountable to such a commitment as they would mostly no longer be members by that time.

She said, even if the council planted trees on every bit of space it owns, it probably couldn’t single-handedly double tree cover in Reading.

“Just doubling tree cover by 2050 is not the right action," Cllr Rowland added.

“Cities that do that, like Bristol and Oxford, they are planting whips and not being realistic in thinking all these whips are going to go into maturity.”