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Ah, Islington. The butt of champagne-socialism jokes it may be, it’s also one of London’s biggest, most gloriously varied boroughs. From Finsbury Park to Upper Street, Islington’s a thriving, vibrant place – and, thanks to a new plan from the council, it could be getting even more desirable.
At the borough’s recent environment and climate change awareness festival, Islington Together, Islington Council announced a tree-warden programme. On every housing estate, they’re looking to install someone to ‘advocate for trees’. Which sounds like an absolutely lovely job, if you ask me.
The tree wardens will be trained to find appropriate places to plant new trees, as well as to look out for damage and disease in existing trees. The council wants to plant a minimum of 430 new saplings per year, so that by 2050, canopy cover in the borough will have increased from 25 percent to 30 percent.
Urban reforesting has loads of benefits, from cleaning the air and improving local biodiversity to providing shade in summer. And plenty of Islington residents are already involved in local green spaces and tree-planting, including park groups, gardening collectives, and, of course, the Islington Together festival. It’s running until October 29, and has plenty of free events on tackling the climate emergency. You can see the full itinerary here.
So if you live in Islington (or nearby) and fancy becoming a tree warden, what’s stopping you? You can find out more by signing up for this free Zoom event for prospective tree wardens on October 27.
More green planning: TfL wants 60,000 electric charge points by 2030.
And there’s an ambitious scheme to reach net zero in all London properties.