'Best of village life in busy city'

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The Woodland Trust is actively supporting the London Mayor's campaign to plant more trees and revamp parks in London, and is calling on Londoners to get involved in the valuable project.

The Mayor yesterday planted the 10,000th street tree in London. This marked his continued commitment to his election manifesto, in which he promised to invest in delivering more trees and improving parks.

Boris Johnson said: "Over the last four years, Londoners have benefited from tens of thousands of fantastic new trees, and 11 favourite parks have been spruced up."

Londoners were given the opportunity to decide which 11 parks received a share of the £6m pledged towards regeneration. These have undergone, or are in the process of undergoing, ambitious makeovers, improving facilities, playgrounds, lighting and landscaping, which promises to transform these green spaces into havens for local communities.

70,000 trees, including 10,000 street trees, have been planted in the capital since Boris Johnson began his term. RE:LEAF, a partnership of organisations which includes the Woodland Trust, was brought together by the Mayor in early 2010 to encourage businesses, local communities and individuals to increase tree cover. RE:LEAF's dedicated work has seen the number of trees planted increase to 100,000.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson enthused: "This work is part of my vision to bring the best of village life into our busy city."

Planting trees and improving London's parks undoubtedly creates a peaceful retreat for Londoners, however, the Woodland Trust has also identified additional benefits that such schemes can bring to London neighbourhoods.

The Trust acknowledges that trees are "an essential part of a healthy environment", and that increased tree cover drastically improves local air quality. A tree-lined street has only 10-15 per cent of the dust found in a street without trees. Tree cover also has a crucial role to play in adapting cities to cope with climate change.

Boris Johnson praised the hard work of community-spirited volunteers who have already played a part in the project, and was keen to build upon their success. The Mayor said: "I urge like-minded others to join up to Team London [the Mayor’s volunteering programme for Londoners] to do the same."

In order to meet the Mayor’s ambitious targets to increase London's tree cover from 20 per cent to 25 per cent by 2025, it is estimated that an additional one million trees will need to be planted by this time, with 400,000 to be planted within the next four years.

The Woodland Trust has also set positive targets for progress. The organisation is urging Londoners to support its Jubilee Garden campaign which seeks to plant six million trees in the UK over the next year.

The Woodland Trust is the UK's leading woodland conservation charity. For further information about its work visit http://bit.ly/wGyra2