Mission

Turning Eastbourne green

Eastbourne Borough Council has declared a climate emergency, and has set a target of 2030 for the town to be carbon neutral.In Eastbourne, we’re especially affected by the loss of thousands of ash and elm trees to disease.

We are focussed on getting trees planted, on both public and private land. We’re working with the council, and independently, to find sites - large and small - where we can plant trees. We’re also raising the money to buy them, enlisting the volunteers needed to plant them, and planning and managing the planting projects.

Founding principles

1. Trees must be the right trees - in the right place. Projects should not be displacing other ecologically valuable habitats (e.g. priority, semi-natural or other habitats that may also or could provide significant carbon capture and/or biodiversity benefits).  

2. Wherever possible, sites / projects should, alongside Greenhouse gas capture, look to maximise native biodiversity. 

3. Projects should encourage community engagement from people of all socioeconomic backgrounds ; and look to engage schools and schoolchildren where possible. 

4.  There has to be a resourced or costed plan (with evidence of funding) for aftercare of trees for usually a minimum of 3 years (depending on the nature of individual planting sites, this aftercare period may be longer) . This aftercare usually involves weeding, control of competitive scrub, tree guard maintenance and subsequent removal, or for street trees -  watering. 

5. We should only plant native species, ideally locally grown or at least UK provenance  - unless there are exceptional circumstances  - e.g. it is impossible to find alternatives - eg disease resistant Elms; or there is strong evidence that a particular tree species is the most suitable for a location/soil type under future climate change scenarios. 

6. Planting sites or projects should be sustainable - not require undue use of resources or carbon to enable planting, and onward maintenance of new trees.  

7. Sites should be safe, and if at all possible accessible for all ages and abilities  - with a presumption that volunteers can reasonably access the sites via foot, cycle, or public transport. Any risks to volunteers can be adequately controlled.  

8. Treebourne as an entirely volunteer run organisation, has sufficient capacity in its core team , and volunteer base, to work on and successfully complete the project.