If you love walking down the street and seeing lots of beautiful trees lining the pavements, you’ll certainly be pleased to hear that experts think we should increase the number of trees on our streets.

Increasing the density of tree planting has been recommended by experts at a conference in Birmingham last week.

This is in order to increase the number of leaves ‘in the sky’ to increase overall canopy cover. This has many positive benefits, such as reducing the chance of flooding in a local area.

Speaking at the Institute of Chartered Foresters’ Trees, People & The Built Environment conference in Birmingham, Professor Peter Duincker of Dalhousie University in Canada said that while trees were very costly to maintain, they were the most useful of all street furniture.

The conference looked at the overall impact of tree planting in urban areas, and the decisions that are taken around when and where to plant them.

Interestingly, researchers at the conference reported on a study into the number of car accidents involving trees. They found that there were similar numbers of accidents involving trees in both urban and non-urban areas. The greatest risk factor for these accidents was for people driving at night in illuminated areas. Unfortunately, accidents involving trees were among the most severe.

“As well as giving depth and identity to the landscape, trees can guide the driver round bends, warn of upcoming junctions and screen off other drivers,” researcher Maarten Buij told the conference, according to the report in HortWeek.

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