Cllr Tom Crone says the potential benefits of the scheme are ‘huge’
Councillor Tom Crone, the Green Party’s candidate for the metro mayor position in the Liverpool City Region has called for the One Tree Per Child scheme to be taken up by all local authorities in the region.
The Greens were successful in their efforts to have Liverpool City Council sign up to the scheme and it is hoped that will lead to thousands of trees being planted by primary school children throughout the city. But Cllr Crone wants to take that a stage further by pressing for a much wider take up.
‘The benefits of the One Tree Per Child scheme are potentially huge’ said Cllr Crone. ‘Giving every primary school age child in the Liverpool City Region the opportunity to plant a tree could be make such a tremendous difference in so many ways. I am asking the leaders of all of the region’s local authorities to join Liverpool in making this a reality’.
The Green Party has recently raised concerns about the State of Nature report, published last week which concluded that more than half of our native species are declining in numbers and one in ten could disappear altogether.
‘The One Tree Per Child initiative can encourage children to respect nature from a young age and it forms an important part of developing their citizenship. Through the simple act of planting a tree, children can get a sense of belonging, by literally putting down the roots in their communities. This is about creating a community for our children to enjoy and be a part of as they grow-up. It’s also about creating a greener environment for the Liverpool City Region, which needs more trees, and more green space, whilst also protecting the spaces we currently have, something we continue to work on in Liverpool and indeed throughout the country.’