ED0308-24 Brief for the development of a Tree Strategy

The purpose of the Tree Strategy for East Devon DC will be to ensure there is both continuity and synergy with the Devon Tree & Woodland Strategy 2024. The Devon Strategy provides the county-wide framework for how we can look to increase our tree and woodland cover as well as linking with Local Nature Recovery work, Climate Change adaptation and mitigation targets and also how we engage all our partners, communities and organisations in helping to ensure we manage our treescapes and woodlands. An ambition of this Tree Strategy will be to look to set an achievable target for planting trees over the ten year period of the plan which links directly to our Climate Change Strategy and also with the planned Local Nature Recovery Plan for East Devon. In doing so we will aim to increase the number of trees unavoidably lost with the caveat of the unknown quantity of trees which may be lost to ash dieback. The trees that are planted will see the district's tree canopy cover significantly increase by the time they are fully grown. We will look to adopt the principle of "the right tree for the right place" in order to ensure the most resilient tree population possible. We will look to undertake a canopy survey of the trees within East Devon's towns so that we can better understand our tree cover. The canopy survey, including our existing TPO database, council owned tree inventory (Ezytreev) and tree planting initiatives across East Devon (EDDC, developers* etc) should be available for our residents to access on the Council's website. We will work constructively with Town & Parish Councils, communities and environmental groups to deliver these ambitions and capture this sentiment within the` Vision statement' for the Strategy