The roots of a cleaner, greener Bolton have been laid.

A total of 13,550 trees have been planted in 12 locations across the borough this year.

The planting covers 7.58 hectares of land – which is the size of about 12 football pitches.

The council has succeeded in meeting its challenging target by working in partnership with ‘City of Trees’, a charity which aims to increase woodland across Greater Manchester and plant a tree for every person that lives in the city region.

Bolton’s woodland tree planting was funded by the government’s Nature for Climate Fund which allocated £12.1m to a nationwide project to create 500 hectares of new woodland by 2021.

Bolton Council has also committed another £170,000 for tree planting across the borough as part of the £1.5m Cleaner and Greener investment to improve the borough’s environment.

The additional resource has already funded four community orchards and new planting in Queens Park, Farnworth Park, Old Station Park, Kearsley Park, Leverhulme Park, Horwich and Little Lever Memorial Gardens.

Bolton Council’s Executive Cabinet Member for Environmental Services Delivery, Cllr Adele Warren said: “Back in December last year, working with City of Trees, we had an ambitious plan to plant around 7.5 hectares of additional woodland across the borough to help fight climate change.

“Undeterred by COVID-19, the appointed contractors have delivered a fantastic project, whilst maintaining social distancing and following the Government’s guidance to stay safe. The planting helps us deliver on the government’s commitment to increase tree planting to 30,000 hectares per year, across the UK, by 2025 as well as Bolton’s goal to be carbon neutral by 2030.”

Recently Friends of Longsight Park were out in force to create their orchard, which means in years to come people can pluck fruit straight from the branches.