Hundreds of Blackpool's newly-planted trees stolen or damaged

About 300 trees were broken or damaged at Claremont Park

Hundreds of trees which were planted as part of a project to "green up" Blackpool have been stolen or damaged, the town's council has revealed.

About 4,000 saplings were planted between October 2020 and March 2021, at three sites across the town.

A meeting of Blackpool Council heard that about 1,300 had been snapped or broken and the same number had been dug up and stolen to be sold commercially.

The council was told Lancashire Police were investigating the thefts.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the stolen trees, which cost the council £600, had been taken from Crossland Road Park.

A further 1,000 were damaged at Revoe Park and 300 were broken at Claremont Park.

'Ownership'

It costs the council about 45p to plant each tree, which are mostly donated to the authority as part of schemes to offset carbon usage.

Blackpool has one of the lowest levels of tree coverage in England, which the council hopes to rectify by planting a total of 10,000 trees by 2030.

Jane Hugo, the council's cabinet member for climate change, said there was "a concern that the trees we are planting are being vandalised or stolen", but the hope was that the use of CCTV and better engagement with communities would help prevent future problems.

She said it was "really important... that people feel ownership of trees in their local area".

She added that the trees that have been stolen "have been reported to the police and there are ongoing investigations around that".

A council spokesman said the authority planned to plant more mature trees during the 2021/22 planting season, which will be harder to remove, and then involve schools and community groups in the planting of saplings in order to promote protection of the sites.