Developers First Base and investors Railpen have kicked off the Queen’s Green Canopy celebrations early in Cambridge and pledged 70 new trees for the city ahead of Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.
Six of the trees will be planted on Parker’s Piece during the forthcoming planting season between November and March and are sponsored by First Base as part of Cambridge City Council’s Trees for Streets campaign. These, combined with the 64 new trees First Base has pledged to plant in the planned Devonshire Gardens development on Devonshire Road, will take the total number of new trees from First Base to 70, matching Her Majesty The Queen’s 70 years of service in 2022.
Douglas Higgins, Project Director, First Base, said:
“The opportunity to participate in Cambridge City Concil’s Trees for Streets activity and contribute significantly to the city-wide canopy coverage, came from conversations with the Cambridge Canopy Project. The aim of the Project is to increase the tree canopy cover in Cambridge from 17% to 19%, which means that more than 800,000m² of new tree cover is required and we are very happy to be able to help the city move towards this target.”
The 64 new trees at Devonshire Gardens – the mixed-use development planned for the existing Travis Perkins brownfield site on Devonshire Road, will take the total number of trees on that site to 121 and, combined with other planting, will achieve a net increase of almost 400% in biodiversity at the site.
Many research studies have shown that trees have a significant positive impact on people’s physical and mental health, and can even contribute to children achieving higher grades at school.
Douglas Higgins continued:
“Trees are not only essential for the sustainability of our planet, creating habitats and food for birds and mammals, shade and transpiration cooling in the summer, shelter in the winter, but they are also essential to our own health and wellbeing. So, by introducing so many more trees to the city centre we can help to maintain quality of life for people living here.”
