Volunteers planted 50 saplings in Grangewood Park as part of a mass tree planting event.

The event organised by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan in conjunction with the Woodland Trust  saw 49,000 trees given away to residents and community groups as part of his plan to help make the capital become a National Park City.

The Friends of Grangewood secured 50 saplings which were planted in the orchard next to the sunken garden on the Grange Road side of the Thornton Heath park. Ten saplings of each of the following trees were planted: English Oak, Green Beech, Silver Birch, Alder and Hornbeam.

London’s trees help improve air quality by removing 2,241 tonnes of pollution from the air every year and save an estimated £126 million  in costs to society associated with pollution. They remove the equivalent of 13 per cent of PM10 particulates and 14 per cent of NO2 emitted by road transport, as well as storing carbon and creating habitat for wildlife.

The Mayor is working with partners across London to make the capital a National Park City and as part of this he is committed to maintaining and expanding the capital’s impressive ‘urban forest’ of eight million trees.

Residents can also nominate their street to receive a tree as part of a drive by the council to plant more trees across the borough to improve air quality and make the borough greener.

The council is planning to plant roughly 650 young trees over the coming months which will take the total number of trees planted in Croydon to more than 800 over the past year.

The  council has pledged more than £700,000 over the next five years in ambitious plans that will see a total of 3,500 new street trees planted with priority going to areas of the borough where pollution is greatest.

As part of this project, diseased or damaged trees will also be replaced. 

If you want find out if your area could be suitable for a new tree then email treesandwoodlands@croydon.gov.uk