Trees are critical to our future 

CPRE Sussex Director’s column written for The Argus, 28 November 2025.

There’s nothing like crunching through autumn leaves to bring childhood memories rushing back.  Or the feel of dappled sunlight through summer leaves. Trees are key to so many lovely moments in life.   

But they’re also critical to our future. Trees are essential infrastructure, delivering key services, day in, day out, just like roads, pipes and cables. They improve air quality, help prevent surface flooding, create homes for nature, lock up carbon emissions, and help improve our mental health and wellbeing. 

Treeconomics report – the value of trees 

Last year, a Treeconomics report commissioned by CPRE Sussex and Brighton & Hove City Council revealed the city’s 36,800 public trees are worth more than half a billion pounds, based on the public benefits they provide.  

Our trees store approximately 14,900 tonnes of carbon, absorbing a further 425 tonnes every year. They filter around 6.4 tonnes of air pollutants annually and divert 15,300 cubic metres of rainwater from the drainage system while providing vital cooling to the urban streets. 

The report called for a major expansion in tree planting with a long-term target of 15% canopy cover – the recommended average for a coastal city. To achieve this, researchers identified 329 ha as plantable space on ‘soft landscapes’ and 36,000 locations worth investigating on ‘hard landscapes’, like pavements and roads. 

Yet the city’s brilliant arboriculture team remains squeezed and the new Tree Strategy appears to be stuck in development. 

Overcoming barriers to planting 

One of the barriers to getting more street trees in is a perceived conflict between them and pavement-users. However, greening streets does not need to come at the expense of accessibility. Bold approaches to the use of ‘kerbside’ space, including planting trees in the carriageway as other councils do, can lead to more trees and space for wheelchair users and parents pushing buggies. 

The biggest blocker to planting more trees that I hear is a lack of cash. Council finances are incredibly squeezed and demands on services are very high. But trees are essential infrastructure which means they must be a priority. Fortunately, there are sources of funding to be tapped. 

Funding for tree planting 

The council already holds millions of pounds in cash, collected from developers as part of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). Allocating 20% of this to city tree planting could make a big difference to greening up our streets.   

Grant funding is also available from numerous trusts, foundations and public bodies. We’ve already worked with the council to secure money from the Urban Tree Challenge. The Forgotten Places project allowed us to plant trees in Bevendean, Woodingdean, Portslade and on the Bristol Estate. 

There is also huge support for trees from businesses and community groups. Our Plant Your Postcode scheme has seen trees planted in collaboration with Hove Civic Society, with residents raising and donating thousands of pounds to help make it happen. Last winter, local businesses funded the planting of new trees on farms surrounding the city as part of their corporate responsibility programmes.  

If we could bring all these sources of funding together, we could turbocharge tree planting. But time is of the essence if we are to continue reaping the environmental, health and wellbeing benefits that trees bring. 

Read more about how we can boost tree planting in our latest Argus column here.