How to Plant Your Postcode

How to Plant Your Postcode

To tackle the climate crisis, increase biodiversity and improve our health, Brighton & Hove needs many more trees. You can make a difference by supporting current Plant Your Postcode projects, making a donation or starting your own tree-planting team.

As a community group, get planting! 

If you are a residents’ association, community group, or similar organisation with at least five members or a local business or charity and you would like to see more trees planted in your area then we are there to guide you every step of the way – from finding out if planting trees on your street is possible right through to getting them into the ground. We work closely with the Council’s tree planting team to support you and increase urban tree cover throughout the city.

Plant Your Postcode is a volunteer-led programme with limited resources. We are unable to assist individuals who would like to see a tree planted on their street or in a nearby park. If you would like to see trees planted in your area why not find some other tree-loving friends and form a community group or support our project generally by going to the yellow Donate button.

Here is our step-by-step guide: 

Step 1 – build your team

Tree planting projects take time. Form a small group of enthusiastic neighbours to work together to gain support and keep your project on track. It’s also helpful to have someone willing to be the main point of contact.

For more tips on rallying support check out our FAQs.

Step 2 – register with us

Contact info@cpresussex.org.uk to let us know you would like to have trees planted.  Tell us where you live and any details about numbers and locations of trees (using house numbers, for example).  We will gather more information and can then let you know if it’s possible to plant in your street.  If it is, we will work with Brighton & Hove City Council Tree Planting team to survey the street and work out costs.

If you want to plant new or replace street trees you will need to plant several. It is not feasible to plan for a single tree on a street. Individual trees can be planted in a park or green space.

Step 3 – work out costs

The Council currently asks for a donation of £381.70 to buy, plant and water a tree for its first three summers in the city.

This does not cover the cost of removing stumps, repairing root damage to the street, installing new tree pits or maintenance – all of which can cost a great deal.

The Council allocates funds each year to replace street trees that have been lost but budgets are increasingly tight. This means the money available cannot match the need or ambitions of residents and the council.

Money is also allocated equally across the wards. But our central built-up areas where trees are badly needed are far more expensive to plant than outlying areas where grass verges and open green spaces make planting easier.

Below are the kinds of expenditure expected for common situations:

• ​​£381.70 is the current standard donation for a new or a replacement tree planted in a grass verge or other soft surface.
• A new tree planted in a hard surface where pavements are 2.5m (8’2”) wide or over could be as much as £1,100.
• Where pavements are less than 2.5 metres wide it will probably be necessary to build out into the road to plant. To cover the cost of removing a stump, building out and creating a new pit, planting, and making good the road and paving could cost £3,000 or more depending on the situation.

Please consider making a standard donation for a tree near your home. Your contribution really helps to increase tree cover across the city.

Please note potential planting sites must be surveyed to ensure there are no underground services or other issues preventing planting.

Step 4 – keeping residents informed

Let people know of your ambitions for your street or area and gauge local support for tree planting. It’s important to know you have the backing of the majority of your neighbours. Collect signatures and support online as a record.

It may be a surprise to learn that a few, often very vocal, people are not in favour of trees despite all the evidence of their great value in improving our health and that of our neighbourhoods. They will need convincing!

Let people know that today’s planting standards mean roots will not damage their property or cause walking to be difficult. They will also have the chance to have a say in which trees are selected.

We will do our best to point out the benefits, help allay concerns and keep people informed as the project progresses.

Check out our FAQs for guidance on common concerns.

Step 5 – create a plan and fundraise

We can help you draw up a planting plan if several trees are planned and suggest trees which will thrive for your site – right tree, right place!  We can also help you and your group to raise funds and set timescales for your project.

Use our Plant Your Postcode fundraising 101 guide for ideas.

Step 6 – banking and Gift Aid

Once your street has been surveyed and a commitment to plant is made, you can start raising funds.

If you have a community bank account you can collect and hold the donations for your project, or you may wish to use a fundraising platform.  If not, CPRE Sussex can help you keep all your donations in one place while you fundraise. This means no one needs to use a personal bank account and you do not need to keep track of small amounts from many sources. We will create a CAF Donate campaign for you to transfer monies into as they are collected.

As a charity, we can claim Gift Aid from your donation (whatever your method for collecting monies) which increases the value of your donation by a massive 25 per cent. We can provide Gift Aid forms.

NB: Depending on the complexity of your project we may ask for a small donation of 5 to 10 per cent from the funds raised to enable us to continue to support planting across the city.

Step 7 – planting and aftercare

Large saplings are normally ordered in the summer and planted between November and the end of March. Council contractors set the planting dates and we will let you know them as soon as we can.

If your group has a Tree Champion they could take the lead in looking after your new trees. We can provide training if needed.

Young trees are provided with an aftercare package but they always benefit from extra support for their critical first three years. Whenever possible we run community tree planting sessions so you can give your trees a flying start!

Once your new trees are planted, enjoy them and don’t forget to celebrate!

Plant Your Postcode team

We are here to help and support you. If you have any questions or need help do get in touch: info@cpresussex.org.uk 

Not sure what trees are available to plant? Use our Plant Your Postcode Tree Species Crib Sheet for some of the most commonly available urban trees.

Check out our Plant Your Postcode 10 top tips for tip top trees for more information .