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Boris Johnson: would transform The Londoner ... into 10,000 trees

Boris: I'll ditch newspaper to plant 10,000 trees

Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor
26.03.08

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Boris Johnson today pledged to plant 10,000 street trees in London by scrapping Ken Livingstone's £1 million a year newspaper The Londoner.

The Tory mayoral candidate said that ditching what he calls "Ken's propaganda sheet" would save enough money to fund new saplings across the city during his first term.

Working in partnership with environmental charities, Mr Johnson said that the street trees would be brought to areas that need them most.

On average his scheme will plant 250 trees in each area, and all 40 areas will have trees planted by the end of the four-year mayoral term in 2012.

Mr Johnson unveiled his policy proposal, which will be part of his environment manifesto published tomorrow, at a tree-planting ceremony in Redbridge. "In the last few years a third of boroughs have seen a decline in the number of street trees - the Mayor has done nothing to reverse this trend," he said.

"Trees give the capital its identity as one of the world's greenest cities. But these trees are not distributed equally around the capital. Many London streets, particularly in deprived areas, have no street trees at all. Why should those streets with more expensive houses get trees when others don't?

"Tree planting may appear to be a small gesture but will actually improve the lives of thousands of Londoners. It is time we had a new approach in London. I am the man to bring about that change."

But Mr Livingstone's campaign claimed an extra 400,000 trees had been planted across London - including on street and in parks - since 2004. The Mayor has pledged to plant a further 600,000 trees by 2012 by working with charities and boroughs. A spokesman described Mr Johnson's plan as "incredibly umambitious".

The Back Boris campaign says that trees offer health benefits because they provide shade, cooling and moisture, and their leaves trap some elements of road pollution, benefiting asthmatics.

A tree-lined street has only 10-15 per cent of the dust of a street without trees, as well as being 6-10C cooler.

They absorb some traffic noise, as well as providing habitats for local wildlife. Street trees also mitigate the effects of global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen, cooling streets that are suffering from the "heat island" effect, and by soaking up rainwater from flash floods. Urban trees can confer economic-benefits as well, the Tories say. They point to estate agents' claims that the presence of trees in an urban area correlates with higher property values, perhaps as much as five to 15 per cent higher.

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I am gob smacked! I never knew that "The Londoner" was Ken's idea - absolutely disgraceful! Everyday London is polluted with millions of copies of this useless paper which nobody wants to waste.
How dare Ken tax us and chastise us for "damaging the environment" when he causes worse contamination with this!

- Daniel Howard, London,UK

It may be a drop in the ocean but if it means a million pounds more spent on doing something useful instead of telling us how great it is to have a mayor. I'm all in favour.

- Lawrence Dimery, London, UK

Another vote winner from kindly Uncle Boris. They need to ensure however that these trees are of sufficient maturity to survive the privations of the Capital's mean streets with yobbos swinging off them and trying to rip them up etc.

- Squiz, Islington