Thames Water has planted cherry trees on The Chase Path in Merton to celebrate National Tree Week.

The nine young cherry trees, which are native to the UK, were planted on Thursday (November 26) and will contribute to Thames Water’s plans to plant at least 100,000 trees on its sites of biodiversity interest in the next five years.

National Tree Week, which runs from November 28 to December 6, is the UK’s largest annual tree celebration, marking the start of the winter tree planting season (November to March each year).

To mark the event, Thames Water staff are planting trees and hedgerows across the company’s water and sewage treatment works.

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Thames Water ecologist, Rebecca Elliott, said: “I’m delighted we’ve been able to plant new trees on The Chase Path and thank all the staff that made this possible.

"At Thames Water we care about the environment and communities we work in and by planting trees on our sites we’re helping to increase biodiversity for the benefit of our customers and the local wildlife.”

Planting trees in the right place can provide numerous environmental benefits such as improving water quality and air quality and providing habitats for wildlife.

It also benefits communities by providing additional green spaces for public leisure and recreation and the associated health and wellbeing benefits.

In October, ‘green-fingered’ volunteers also turned The Chase Path into a haven for wildflowers by sowing over twenty species along the public access land ready for next spring.

From 2020 to 2025, Thames Water has committed to enhance biodiversity by 5% at 253 of its sites which have biodiversity interest.

In 2018 Thames Water, alongside 11 other UK water and sewerage companies, signed a commitment to collectively plant 11 million trees by 2030.

To find out more about National Tree Week visit Tree Council.