Thousands of new trees could be planted in York, which could help City of York Council’s ambitions to increase the coverage of trees and their leaves.

A feasibility study, carried out this year on behalf of the council, has identified 64 different sites in the city where up to 4,000 new trees could be planted.

A council meeting on Wednesday will consider a report which summarises the outcomes of the York Green Streets project.

Through funding secured through the White Rose Forest partnership, York Green Streets undertook an ‘opportunity mapping’ exercise earlier this year to assess the scope for new tree planting in York’s urban and peri-urban area.

The work, carried out by Groundwork Yorkshire, focussed on four main areas covering streets, wards, parishes and schools.

The council says 81 locations were visited to assess possible tree planting, considering things like the size of the existing verge, proximity to existing trees, location of utility services, junction boxes, manholes and driveways.

Each location was given a traffic-light rating based on its suitability for new tree planting. A detailed map of each location is provided with the report.

The next steps include detailed community consultation around each opportunity and securing the necessary capital funds support delivery, with a number of national and regional grant programmes being considered.

The council has set a target to achieve an increase in its urban tree canopy cover from 10.8 per cent (currently), to 13 per cent by 2050, amounting to an additional circa 21 hectares of new tree canopy cover each year.

The report said 951 trees could be planted within streets/open spaces and just over 3,000 within school sites.

Cllr Paula Widdowson, Executive Member for Environment and Climate Change, at City of York Council, said: “The council’s new community woodland at Knapton will make a significant contribution towards meeting our tree canopy target, by planting 210,000 new trees - one for each resident of York - over the next few years.

“At the same time, we’ve been successful in securing Queen’s Green Canopy ‘Champion City’ status for 2022 and pledged to support even more tree planting across the city in honour of the Queen’s anniversary year.

“This mapping exercise tells us that there are more tree planting opportunities across the city.  Through this survey, we know more can be done, and this is the first step in providing us with the important information and groundwork to help us work towards achieving this goal.”

The decision session of the Executive Member for Environment and Climate Change takes place on Wednesday at 3pm. It can be viewed online on the council website.