The Trees and Design Action Group Trust (TDAG) have produced the Tree Species Selection for Green Infrastructure: A Guide for Specifiers which is written for anyone with an interest in specifying trees for green infrastructure. This is likely to include: arboriculturists; architects; civil and structural engineers; designers; landscape architects; landscape contractors; non-profit organisations; planners and tree officers. 

Tree Species Selection for Green Infrastructure

The aim of this guide is to enable you to select appropriate trees for your planting scheme. By doing so, you will enhance the benefits bestowed on our communities by trees, help enrich our shared landscape and create a more sustainable urban forest for future generations. A series of chapters provide a commentary on the interpretation of this guide and tree species selection for green infrastructure. Specific information on over 280 trees is included in the Tree Profiles and a Tree Selector tool helps you identify candidate trees by a range of criteria.

Deforestation is only continuing and accelerating, with many of the same negative effects—now on a larger scale. In this article, Rachel Brown from DIYGarden shares some excellent information on the topic, and explains how we can help to prevent deforestation as well as take some steps to reverse its negative impacts on the environment.

Using soft landscape to improve air quality

A comprehensive 2,750 word guide about air pollution, and how we can help prevent it with the right plants and shrubs that absorb pollutants.

Green Infrastructure Mapping database and Analyses

Defra and Natural England have developed a Beta version (V1.1) of an England-wide GI mapping database, bringing together data from over 40 individual environmental and socio-economic datasets. It will support local authorities and other stakeholders to assess green infrastructure provision against the emerging GI Standards.

Green Infrastructure Framework web portal 

This guide provides suggestions of paving types and which situations they are most suited to.

Paving Selection Guide ^{(pdf, 3mb)}

Hampshire Forest Partnership has been set up by Hampshire County Council with a goal to plant one million trees by 2050. The vision for the partnership is to facilitate tree planting by working with communities, landowners, businesses, charities and organisations across Hampshire.

Hampshire Forest Partnership | Hampshire County Council (hants.gov.uk)

We aim to:

• encourage tree planting across Hampshire
• give advice and guidance on planting the right trees in the right places
• share the positive ways tree planting helps the environment
• give you and your community what you need to get involved in tree planting activities

Trees are having a hard time and need your help. The Hampshire Forest Partnership has been set up with this in mind.  The term ‘partnership’ implies the reciprocal relationship between people and trees – in this modern era where humans have impacted almost all the natural world, trees need us and we need trees. This project is all about the partnership between people and trees. We need you to join this partnership, help us to care for our trees and woodlands and to plant more trees.  It is a collaboration in every sense of the word.

Shoots Along the Routes - Free Trees to farmers and communities!

Our latest campaign, ‘Shoots along the Routes’ is aimed to improve landscape connectivity outside woodland areas. We will be providing free trees to landowners and land managers to create over 630 kilometres of new green networks across the county.  The networks will follow the routes of several A and B-roads across Hampshire and the scheme will support eligible tree planting schemes within a 2km wide corridor along the routes to boost nature recovery. 

By following the trajectory of these roads, the trees can deliver on ecosystem services by creating stepping-stones for nature across our towns and villages, as well as through the more rural parts of Hampshire. It is hoped the scheme will deliver a multitude of benefits including other ecosystem services such as reduction of noise pollution, improvement in soil health, cooling the air and alleviating flood risk.

Please contact treeplanting@hants.gov.uk for more information, an Expression of Interest Form and Guidance on eligibility.

Crazy paving: who’ll step up to end front garden loss?

Allowing many front gardens to be paved over may have solved some parking problems and provided locations for charging electric vehicles however they have also created many problems including increased flooding, loss of biodiversity, overheating of urban areas and pollution amongst others. This article describes the situation in the London Borough of Ealing however is relevant across the country – in particular within urban areas.

This briefing was held online on Tuesday 24th September 2024. 

This briefing discusses ‘what is landscape?’ –‘why is it important?’ – ‘what are the pressures being brought to bear upon it?’ and ‘how can attention to it, early on in the design and planning process, result in better places?’ It will also explain very briefly what services the landscape team provides to the council.

Please click on this YouTube link to view the briefing.