Give everyone a right to grow trees, says government tsar
Red tape is depriving towns and cities of greenery. Now a new report is calling for it to be made easier for people and communities to plant in public spaces
A new “Right to Plant” should let anyone grow trees in public green spaces, according to Nicholas Boys Smith, the government tsar for beautiful places.
Individuals and communities should not need to “wade through a thicket of permissions” to green their neighbourhoods, according to the report ‘Greening Up’ published today by Create Streets, the social enterprise run by Boys Smith. “Let the people grow,” it says.
Like residents in the French city of Bordeaux, Britons should be given a right to plant under certain circumstances in existing public green spaces, it says. Since 2020, a greening permit (“permis de végétaliser”) has entitled Bordeaux’s people to plant in front of their homes, offices and shops as part of the Bordeaux Grandeur Nature strategy.
In contrast residents
