Residents on three council estates in West Lothian will be offered a free tree planted in their garden as part of the country’s green initiatives.
Estates in Linlithgow, Broxburn and Whitburn have been earmarked for the £50,000 scheme which will offer each householder a tree in their back or front garden.
The scheme has been drawn up with Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust.
The trust is now working on the plans with housing staff.
Chris Alcorn, principal planner, told a meeting of West Lothian Council’s Environment PDSP that the free tree scheme was one of several carbon sequestration projects that have been drawn up since the spring.
The projects include large scale forest planting and habitat restoration programmes have been drawn up as part of the West Lothian Climate Emergency Fund.
The projects also attract funding from a variety of national and local partners including Scottish Forestry and the Green Action Trust.
Mr Alcorn said that care would be taken to ensure that the most suitable trees were offered to householders.
He added: “We are acutely aware that there’s been criticism in the past of the wrong trees planted in the wrong place. We are in early discussions with housing and the ELGT and we would obviously bring in the council arboriculturalist.”
Consultations would also take place with flood risk managers because tree planting can help cut flooding risks.
Estates earmarked so far include the Lochs estate in Whitburn, Kirkhill in Broxburn and at Linlithgow Bridge.
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