MORE than 500 free trees are set to be supplied to groups of volunteers and communities across the borough as part of National Tree Week.

Trees will be planted at sites such as Alexandra Park, Pennington Flash Country Park, Westlake and Three Sisters Local Nature Reserve.

This will be followed at the end of the year with 1,200 ‘whips’ being planted at Bickershaw country park.

The donations are part of the annual campaign which celebrates trees and the impact they have on the environment and wellbeing, while coinciding with the onset of the winter tree-planting season.

To mark the start of the week, a group of volunteers from the Friends of Lilford Park joined the Green Crew CIC, to plant 50 trees in Lilford Park.

Alongside National Tree week, Wigan Council will also be taking part in the Big Climate Fightback initiative.

For this, the Woodland Trust is calling on one million people to pledge to plant a tree to help fight the ever-growing concern around the effects of climate change and global warming.

Paul Barton, Wigan Council’s director of Environment said: “We are pleased to be able to do our bit to highlight National Tree Week and support the Big Climate Fight Back as well as working towards Wigan council’s green ambitions and its important decision to declare a climate emergency.

"We welcome these two major initiatives to support our plans to make sure the borough and its residents benefit from better air quality and a more sustainable future.”

On November 29, staff from Wigan Council will join volunteers from the Lancashire Wildlife Trust and Friends of Borsdane Group in Hindley to plant 20 trees within the woodland.

They will also carry out essential drainage works to footpaths which flood during periods of increasingly heavy rainfall.

Penny McGinty, assistant director of Corporate Contracts and Assets added: “While these initiatives are important to the ongoing work of Greenheart and the management of our Parks and Open spaces, these tree planting initiatives can help to disperse harmful pollutants, lock up carbon, reduce local surface flooding as well as providing a home for climate-threatened wildlife.”

Kieran Sayer, Wigan’s newly appointed Biodiversity Officer said: “Adding new trees to the parks and nature reserves in the borough is essential.

"Alongside fighting climate change and pollution, planting trees and volunteering is known to aid feelings of wellbeing and is great for the overall look and feel of the community; as well as attracting wildlife.

"It is a great project to get involved with because you can plant one tree in your back garden or volunteer in bigger projects like ours to plant more trees and protect our woodland.”