The Isle of Wight Council is supporting biodiversity and developing green spaces by planting standard trees and reinstating or planting hedgerows across the Island, thanks to funding from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) through The Tree Council’s Trees Outside Woodland Fund.
The Isle of Wight Council successfully secured grant support through the TOW Fund and will be planting 100 standard trees of mixed native species and 200m of nature friendly hedgerow.
Community members are now invited to help plant the trees and hedgerows across a number of locations and days in January and February.
The sites, predominantly in The Bay area, have been chosen in order to connect wildlife corridors and provide canopy cover and shade in the future for the community.
The Trees Outside Woodland Fund offers grants of up to £40,000 for local authorities and larger charities to grow trees on land that is publicly accessible, or of benefit to the public.
Tony Gillingham, Tree Officer at the Isle of Wight Council, said:
“This grant gives us a fantastic opportunity to make a real difference for nature, not just in the Bay area which is where we are focusing our efforts, but across three additional locations on the Island.
“Expanding tree canopies delivers multiple benefits: creating vital habitats and wildlife corridors, acting as carbon sinks, providing shade during hot summer months, and helping to slow floodwaters.
Article continues below this advertisement “As part of the Council’s commitment to enhancing biodiversity, this is a significant win.”
Aiming to support the establishment of tens of thousands of trees, the new TOW Fund was available for planting projects across the 2025/26 season in England. Successful applicants must use biosecure stock and all projects must be completed by 2 March 2026.
Sara Lom, CEO at The Tree Council, said:
“Trees outside woodland are the trees we all come across most often – those in our parks, on our streets, and even the hedgerows that help capture carbon and act as heritage highways for a rich array of wildlife.
“We’re delighted to be partnering with Defra to offer this additional Tree Council grant opportunity to benefit people, wildlife and our planet, and especially the Isle of Wight Council.”
The Tree Council, the national charity working together for the love of trees, offers a range of funding and free tree options to support planting projects; helping to bring greater biodiversity, improved air quality, reduced risk of flooding, and deliver significant environmental enhancement to grant recipients and their communities, from the north of Scotland to the tip of England, in Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Volunteer days for tree planting will be:
| Site | Date(s) | Meeting point at 10am |
| Lake Cliff Gardens, Sandown | 17 January | Parking = Winchester House Long Stay Carpark (free on day of event) ///reward.trending.pursuing
Meeting Place = Toilet block ///flexibly.rooster.braced |
| Shanklin Cemetery | 22 and 24 January | Parking = in cemetery, cemetery entrance roundabout (///tonality.fooling.gateway), Shanklin County Ground (///prowess.pheasants.generals) and local streets.
Meeting Place = Cemetery entrance roundabout ///helpless.important.detonated |
| Coxes Green, Sandown | 29 January | Parking = nearby streets
Meeting Place = within the green ///steaming.relocated.encoder |
| Foxes Park, Sandown | 5 February | Parking = nearby streets
Meeting Place = in the north of park at Stower Place end ///perky.staining.hasten |
| Browns Golf Course, Yaverland | 7 February | Parking = golf course parking ///boxer.modest.serenade
Meeting Place = golf course carpark ///boxer.modest.serenade |
| Park Road Rec – Cowes | 12 February | Parking = Park carpark and along Park Road itself ///tangent.earpiece.sentences
Meeting Place = on grass adjacent to Rec carpark ///tablet.dressings.search |
| Appley Ryde | 26 February | Parking = Appley Park Carpark ///soaks.gross.cone
Meeting = grass adjacent to Appley Park Carpark ///joined.raced.visit |
You are invited to join our tree officers between 10:00 and 15:00 each day (bring a packed lunch if you are staying for the full day and plenty to drink). You will need to wear clothes appropriate for the conditions and sturdy appropriate shoes. This is an all-weather activity and will only be cancelled in the event of extreme adverse weather conditions. For more information contact [email protected]
To find out more about The Tree Council’s Trees Outside Woodland Fund, visit: www.treecouncil.org.uk/grants-and-guidance/our-grants/trees-outside-woodland-fund/
Well the council are certainly bigging this up aren’t they! One hundred trees across seven sites works out at fourteen trees for each site… Well whoop-de-do! Better than nothing I suppose but hardly warrants the quote “Expanding tree canopies delivers multiple benefits: creating vital habitats and wildlife corridors, acting as carbon sinks, providing shade during hot summer months, and helping to slow floodwaters..”
The article also says “The sites, predominantly in The Bay area, have been chosen in order to connect wildlife corridors”… The definition of “wildlife corridors” is:
“a strip of natural habitat connecting populations of wildlife otherwise separated by cultivated land, roads, etc.”
Can someone please explain how 100 trees and 200m of hedge is going to connect any of these disparate sites together to fit with that definition?
The headline should be ‘Council does bare minimum to look good’
Although, most of the council leadership team seem to be as thick as a log, maybe they are just growing their replacements.