Originally recognised in 2024, Newcastle earned this prestigious title due to its dedication to growing and maintaining urban trees.
The council are currently concentrating on planting larger standard trees across the city with the aim of planting 1978 large trees by the end of this planting season. The council also now maintains over 652, 000 trees across the city.
In March, the final flurry of community planting events will take place, including the creation of a fruit orchard by local school children in Gosforth and the planting of nearly 300 new trees in Kenton Dene, supported by local youth and community groups.
Cllr Alex Hay, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Services, Newcastle City Council, said: “It is fantastic that the city has again been awarded this international recognition. We are committed supporting the creation of a cleaner, greener city for our residents, visitors and future generations to enjoy. We would like to thank all our colleagues, residents and partners who have supported us in this work again this year.”
Increasing the number of trees in a community can help reduce costs for energy, stormwater management, and erosion control. Additionally, inclusion in the programme provides a network of like-minded city leaders in urban forestry to celebrate and share best practices for cultivating greenery in the community.
Newcastle City Council is also the lead authority for the North East Community Forest, which has planted over 163.98 of gross hectares including 239,916 trees and 17,447 linear metres of hedgerows across six authority areas in the North East during the last planting season.
Environmental charity Trees for Cities is the UK lead for Tree Cities of the World and proudly partners with local authorities nationwide to promote this initiative. The recognition scheme is run globally by the Arbor Day Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.
To earn Tree Cities of the World recognition, Newcastle demonstrated its commitment by meeting five programme standards: establishing responsibility for the care of trees, setting rules to govern the management of forests and trees, maintaining an updated inventory or assessment of local tree resources, allocating resources for a tree management plan, and holding an annual celebration of trees to educate residents.