Tree planting at Stanmer Park as part of restoration project

Half of the trees, a mix of specimens and sizes, have been funded by the Stanmer Park Restoration Project - the remaining 250 trees from contactless parking payments made in the city as part of parking payment provider PayByPhone’s ‘Green Christmas’ campaign.

‘Green Christmas’ is run in partnership with Eden Restoration Projects, a not-for-profit scheme which works with communities in developing countries suffering from extreme poverty resulting from deforestation.

In addition to the Stanmer trees, 4,400 more will be donated to a not-for-profit organisation providing essential supplies such as food and medicines in the Madagascan rainforest.

The council is already part of PayByPhone’s carbon footprint reduction initiative Meters for Trees.

Amy Heley, chair of Brighton and Hove City Council’s council’s environment committee, is pictured planting one of the first trees, marking the final phase of landscaping work.

She said: “It’s wonderful to see hundreds of young trees being planted in Stanmer Park as the restoration project enters its exciting final construction stages and we welcome the contribution from PaybyPhone’s ‘Green Christmas’ campaign.”

She added: “I’m delighted that so many trees will be donated by PayByPhone on our behalf to such a worthy project.

“Deforestation is a global problem that affects us all, but especially in those communities where rainforests provide so much.

“It’s positive to see that residents and visitors can contribute to such a great cause, simply by making contactless parking payments.”

Rebecca Maisey, head of client management for PayByPhone UK, said: “The environment and the communities in which we work are exceptionally important to us, which is why we have decided to base our Green Christmas calculations on the month with our highest transaction figure this year – October.

“And because Brighton & Hove City Council is part of our multi-award-winning carbon footprint reduction initiative Meters for Trees, we are doubling that figure to make an even bigger impact. We aren’t going to let the pandemic impact the good we try to do at this time of year.”

She added that the council and other local authorities have helped donate more than 41,000 trees during the 2020 Green Christmas campaign,

The £5.1 million Stanmer Park restoration project covers 20 hectares of the city’s largest park, focussing on the Walled Garden and surrounding area and restoring the 18th Century landscape, parkland and historical features, including the entrance. Work started in 2019.

Over the next couple of months, the main landscape elements of the Stanmer Project will be finishing, with tree planting across different areas of the site.

The project is being funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the National Lottery Heritage Fund BIG Lottery ‘Parks for People’ scheme as well as Brighton & Hove City Council, Plumpton College and the South Downs National Park Authority.

For more information on the Stanmer Park Restoration Project visit the council’s website.

There is also more information about both Green Christmas and Meters for Trees online.