Elemore pays tribute to Her Majesty the Green

A former golf course at Elemore is to be transformed root-and-branch, as local residents and schools join forces to "Plant a Tree for the Jubilee."

Students from up to eight schools will help plant 420 trees donated by the Woodland Trust this month, as part of the 'Queen's Green Canopy' initiative.

With a focus on planting sustainably, the Green Canopy encourages the planting of trees to create a legacy in honour of The Queen's platinum jubilee.

Everyone from individuals to scout and girl-guiding groups, villages, cities, counties, schools and corporates have been encouraged to plant trees during the official planting season between October to March, with planting recommencing in October 2022 through to the end of the Jubilee year.

Participating in the project to plant trees at Elemore are students from Hetton Primary, Hetton Lyons Primary, Easington Lane Primary, East Rainton Primary, Hetton Secondary, Houghton Kepier Secondary, Hetton Lyons Nursery and Houghton Community Nursery.

Cllr Claire Rowntree, deputy leader of Sunderland City Council and Hetton Ward councillor, said: "Seeing so many schools and community groups rally together to take part in this project has been fantastic and we're delighted with how receptive both the young people and our local residents have been to the campaign.

"The redevelopment of the former Elemore golf course - where the Woodland Trust tree planting is taking place - is set to be transformed into a full eco-park over the next 12 months, comprising a community-led café, garden and visitor centre that will become a real asset to the local area and this will play a key role in ensuring the project realises its full potential."

The tree planting in Elemore is one of the first projects to come to fruition as part of the region's participation in the newly formed North East Community Forest (NECF), which encompasses the whole of Sunderland as well as the rest of Tyne & Wear and much of County Durham.

In the coming months, more woodland and hedge planting will follow as part of the transformation of the former Elemore site, supported by Sunderland City Council, with over 15,000 trees being planted in total.

Sunderland City Council has supported a number of carbon-reducing projects over recent months as part of its Low Carbon Framework, which aims to see the city become carbon neutral by 2040.

This included funding for schools across the city to devise their own carbon-reducing projects to coincide with COP26 and the establishing of the Environmental Green Sustainable (EGS) group, a collective made up of school and college students from across the city tasked with shaping the city's Low Carbon Framework.

Cllr Rowntree added: "As a City Council, we made a commitment last year to make Sunderland a carbon neutral city by 2040 and initiatives like this will play a major part in helping us achieve our ambitions.

"It's been great working with the local schools, community groups and the team at NECF on this project and we're looking forward to working on more climate-friendly initiatives across the city as we look to the future."

For more information on Sunderland's Low Carbon Framework, visit: https://www.sunderland.gov.uk/lowcarbon