Hundreds of trees have been planted on land surrounding an electricity substation as part of a new partnership.

The Trees for Climate programme has seen the region’s electricity network operator, Electricity North West partner with City of Trees to create community forests in the North West.

More than 370 trees have now been planted on land surrounding Electricity North West’s Slack Lane substation in Westhoughton.

As well as increasing sustainable UK grown timber, providing more places for nature and biodiversity to thrive, the newly planted trees will also help contribute towards the UK’s net zero target of 2050.

Steve Cox, Electricity North West’s engineering and technical director, said: “Substations are critical parts of the network which bring electricity to homes and businesses throughout the North West.

“We have hundreds all over the region, many surrounded by land which can be utilised for community benefits such as the new community forests.

“As the region’s electricity network operator, we have a big role to play in providing the infrastructure to power electric cars and electric heating to reduce carbon emissions, we’re always looking at different ways to improve the environment and offset carbon emissions and planting hundreds of trees is a great contribution.

“The new partnership with City of Trees is extremely important, I’m delighted the first site is planted and we’re currently working to identify more sites in our region where we’ll donate the land for trees to be planted.”

City of Trees is the Greater Manchester part of the ‘Northern Forest’, a 25-year vision to plant 50 million trees across the North of England, stretching from Liverpool to Hull. 

Sarah Williams, Business Development Manager at City of Trees said “We’re really excited to have established this new partnership with Electricity North West.

“It’s brilliant to be working with such a company that is showing great leadership across the private sector in tackling the climate emergency here in Greater Manchester and we are looking forward to continuing to achieve more with them over the next few years and into the future.”

The Trees for Climate Programme is funded by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

For more information about Electricity North West, please visit www.enwl.co.uk.