Urban trees

Benefits for all

Trees are an essential element of our urban green infrastructure, delivering a wide range of services to help sustain life, promote well-being and support economic benefits.

The Public Opinion of Forestry Survey 2017 Wales (Forestry Commission England website), shows that people use and value woodlands and urban trees in many different ways.

We see them all around us, on public and private land, along streets, roads and rivers. We see them in civic, retail and business areas, in parks, cemeteries, schools and in residential gardens. There are even urban woodlands.

Woodlands for Wales

In Woodlands for Wales, the Welsh Government states its aim to ensure that trees and woodlands play a greater and more valued role in towns and cities. This will improve the quality of life and surroundings for people who live in urban areas.

We work with Welsh Government and others to promote urban trees as a principal component of Green Infrastructure. We advocate approaches that provide multiple well-being benefits for people.

Tree cover in Wales’ towns and cities

This Natural Resources Wales study helps us all to understand more about the tree cover in our communities so that we can better plan and manage this amazing resource. This is the first time a country has ever recorded all of its urban canopy cover.

Discover where tree cover is at its highest and lowest across Wales’s towns and cities. See how the character of the landscape, more or less well-off neighbourhoods and land-use all influence the extent of canopy cover.

You can look at a good example of an urban tree and woodland plan, produced by Flintshire Council.

View the summary, read the full report: Tree cover in Wales' towns and cities or see the results by county:

You can request a short summary report of our 2017-18 data update.

You can download the mapping data to use in your own software. A search for “Urban Tree” brings results for all our surveys, being from years 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2018.

i-Tree Eco

Urban trees are a valuable source of ecosystem services in towns and cities, providing cost-effective solutions to many of the environmental issues facing urban society. Quantifying the services that trees provide in improving local air quality, capturing and storing carbon and reducing flooding reveals the significant monetary benefits that trees deliver year on year. Find out more about the value of urban trees to society for Bridgend, Wrexham and the Tawe Catchment.

Read about the findings from the i-Tree Eco studies for Cardiff, Bridgend and Wrexham County Boroughs and for the Tawe Catchment. 

Natural Heritage Tree Project

We supported the National Federation of Women’s Institutes Wales to set up a two-year Heritage Lottery-funded project to Preserve, Protect and Plant Urban Trees.

The project really gets to the heart of local communities across Wales by empowering WI members to act as champions of trees in their local area. The project supports members to survey, observe, preserve, protect and engage communities in tree planting and on-going monitoring. They also raise awareness about the value of trees to the wider public.  Find out more from the WI.

Coed Aber

Turning a vision for trees into reality.

This joint initiative in Aberystwyth has combined our enthusiasm and expertise with that from Ceredigion County Council, Greener Aberystwyth Group and the Aberystwyth Regeneration Board to deliver a three year project worth £375,000. The town’s main approach road was transformed with trees, to improve people’s lives and attract business investment.

Find out more, along with details of the innovative Park & Ride planting, in the Trees and Design Action Group guide, Trees in Hard Landscapes.

You can also watch the video that Natural Resources Wales commissioned to help kick start the vision.

Trees and Design Action Group

Visit the Trees and Design Action Group website to view two recent guidance documents:

• Trees in the Townscape: A Guide for Decision-Makers provides 12 best practice principles to ensure our towns and cities adopt a 21st century approach, where trees are fundamental in making places work, look and feel better.

• Trees in Hard Landscapes: A Guide for Delivery explores the practical challenges and solutions associated with integrating trees into 21st century streets, civic spaces and car parks. It details process, design and technical options.

Contact us

For further information, please contact: urbantrees@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk