Seven 4m trees have been planted on Deyes Lane adjacent to the shops yesterday by SMBC (Green Department), following a request from local residents in July and December 2020, inspired following the Friends of Maghull and Districts (FOMD) various tree planting initiatives. This follows on from recent tree planting on Claremont Avenue last week (1).

Process:

We approached Maghull’s tireless Council Leader/local Borough Councillor Patrick McKinley, who sourced the funding from section 106 funds and kindly agreed to support the tree planting along with his fellow Suddell Ward councillors – Yvonne Sayers and Matt Gannon, amounting to the sum of £1736, for seven mature trees, (but this may be less because tree guards could not be installed on six trees). In January 2021, we canvassed all the houses between 98– 122 and received unanimous support for planting the trees. Due to the fact that the land belongs to Sefton Borough Council, the siting of the trees was assessed by a council tree officer (Steve Whiteside), in February, to ensure that the utilities above and below ground would not be interfered with and checked that they adhered to other protocols. He priced each tree at £248 which covers the cost of the tree, planting, guards and several years of maintenance.

Many thanks to Dave (Foggy) and Liam (Sefton Green Department) who undertook the planting yesterday and huge thanks to Cllr Patrick McKinley for helping to support the funding and Graeme (local resident) who not only requested the trees but honoured his bacon butty offer to Dave and Liam for planting the trees!

Background:

Deyes Lane is fast becoming one of the busiest areas of Maghull due to the huge ‘Sefton local plan’ Maghull East housing development, and other developments including the new railway station, improved M58 junction, large increases to psychiatric facilities around Ashworth Hospital (Maghull’s largest employer). In addition, the nearest shops and access routes to the town centre, Deyes High School and Liverpool are on and through Deyes Lane respectively. So it was hardly surprising that local residents identified that the trees could help reduce noise, pollution, provide privacy whilst providing a natural attraction and replacing previous trees that have been vandalised or diseased.

Since Maghull lost 50 mature trees following a risk assessment three years ago, the Maghull Town Council and FOMD have been working together with environmental partners, particularly Mersey Forest, in a huge drive to plant thousands of trees throughout the town. The aim of which is to respond to the climate emergency, increase biodiversity, reduce pollution and improve wellness. However, as you can see from the above process Street trees are essential alongside the tree whip planting initiatives (2) but also a difficult part of the process, not least because of the cost.

Nevertheless, we are absolutely delighted and hope to plant further trees in before the end of the planting season in March, and build on this each year as a result of the increasing bonds we are developing with environment agencies. Should anyone like to get involved in the next two social distancing tree planting events before the end of the tree planting season in March, please contact woodendcwp@gmail.com

In the meantime, we are now in the second of three crowdfunding projects to improve the gateway into Maghull at Bobby’s Wood/Woodend (junction of Liverpool Road South and Northway). We have had an unprecedented response (3) with the community donating 150 shrubs to populate a 50x4m vacant border Our current crowdfunding campaign has raised £240 towards our target of £3-5,000 for new plants here, you can donate and watch a small introductory video at www.justgiving.com/crowdfund/woodend.

Many thanks,

FOMD (1) https://www.facebook.com/…/permalink/826145378113517 (2) https://www.facebook.com/…/permalink/825069798221075 (3) https://www.facebook.com/…/permalink/822847888443266