More than 1,000 trees have been snapped and cut down just days after being planted in a "senseless act of vandalism".
Nottingham City Council planted a total of 1,600 trees at the Clifton Playing Fields in Farnborough Road on December 6, in a bid to help improve the local environment and meets the city's goal of planting 50,000 trees by 2023.
However, at the end of December it was discovered that all but 20 trees had been snapped or cut down by vandals using secateurs, or pruning clippers.
Only holes in the ground were left when council officers attended, but 200 trees were fortunately in a suitable state to be salvaged and will now be replanted.
The whips, which are slender and unbranched trees of a young age, consisted of a mixture of oak, birch, ash, willow and rowan.
Councillor Dave Trimble, portfolio holder for culture and leisure, said: “It is really disappointing to see such a senseless act of vandalism.
"We are planting trees because they bring numerous benefits – not just an improvement to local environments, providing habitats for wildlife and health benefits for local people through carbon dioxide absorption, but also the part trees play in tackling climate change.
"We will be working with the local community to replant more trees at Clifton as well as other locations around the city to meet our goal of up to 50,000 new trees by 2023."
A consultation is due to take place with the Clifton community, and Nottinghamshire Police is now investigating.
The whips were planted by students from the Farnborough Academy alongside deputy leader of the council Sally Longford, who is also heading up Nottingham's bid at becoming the first carbon neutral city in the country by 2028.
A further 2,850 trees are due to be planted in Southglade Park, Bestwood, in February.
Volunteers from the local community and Nottingham Trent University will be helping plant the mixture of whips.
A spokeswoman for Nottinghamshire Police said: "Nottinghamshire Police was called just before 12.20pm on Tuesday 7 January 2020 to a report of criminal damage involving trees at Clifton playing fields in Farnborough Road, Clifton.
"It was reported that more than 1000 small trees had been pulled up.
"If you saw anything which may help our inquiry you should call Nottinghamshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 361 of 7 January 2020."
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