Executive summary
Trees characterise and make Coventry’s streetscapes and urban landscapes more joyful, liveable and resilient to extreme weather. However, trees are still immensely undervalued. The crucial role trees and the urban forest play in our increasingly urbanised lives has been eroded, mainly due to the challenge to define and quantify their value.
A new perspective on the benefits of our urban forest, expressed in a way that all can understand is required to promote a catalyst for change. In our modern society a common language is money, so there are advantages to equate the asset benefits of the urban forest and the multi-functions it performs in £s to present its natural capital. Representing in £s the tangible emotional and health benefits of the urban forest; the role it plays in our natural ecosystem, and how trees support the economy of Coventry will be a step toward ensuring trees are at the heart of planning and decision-making.
The scale and effectiveness of these benefits are directly related to the way we manage the urban forest as a resource and decision making to shape its future. Progress is being made. Internationally the `First World Forum on Urban Trees’1 was held in Mantova, Italy in November 2018; and nationally, the value of the urban forest and green infrastructure (GI) is recognised through the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework 2012 (NPPF) and Natural Environment White Paper (driven by data from the National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA)). The Department of Health’s plan for improved physical activity ‘Be active be healthy – a plan for getting the nation moving’2, the public mental health framework ‘New Horizons: flourishing people, connected communities’3 and the Marmot report ‘Fair society, healthy lives’4 all acknowledge the role of green space and trees.
Masses of evidence is available regarding the multiple benefits that GI and the urban forest can deliver when sensitively planned, designed and managed in new or retrofitted urban environments; such as providing sustainable transport links, improving recovery of hospital patients, and mitigating the effects of climate change. But in the UK (although there is environmental legislation for the protection of biodiversity and urban green spaces by regulating planning, contamination and conservation, e.g. the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Planning Act 2008) there is no legislation for the requirement of green spaces or the urban forest. There is momentum with a series of PostNotes produced by the Houses of Parliament5 and a number of NGOs including the RSPB6 and The Wildlife Trust7 have proposed the adoption of a Nature and Wellbeing Act for the protection of green spaces as a public health strategy.
To commence the dialogue towards a better understanding of the specific values of the urban forest in Coventry, consultation has been undertaken with those who have a specific interest in trees located on local authority land; and amassed relevant information cross-referenced for further evidence basing if required by the reader. Projects and case studies have been provided to inform the framework for future policies. Statistics are generally not specific to Coventry as local analysis has not been undertaken, but the report presents value in a quantified format that can be applied to our urban forests. In brief, this evidence has been collated with the aim to:
protect, promote, sustain and enhance our urban forest and to recognise its contribution towards the character, appearance and economy of Coventry for the benefit of all those who live, work and visit the area.
