The new Southwark Labour led administration is about to approve its Tree Strategy.

As a Lib Dem we were planting 400 centrally funded trees a year – roughly the replacement rate – with other Cleaner, Greener, Safer funding for new trees. So overall we were making the borough greener.

Anyway, this new Tree Strategy decision comes at the same time as some research about how people, but especially kids, living in greener areas are healthier and less obese. The American Journal of Preventative Medicine vol 35, P547 reported that children living in greener urban areas compared to less green urban areas were on average 6 kgs lighter with less depression, back and neck problems, lung problems, asthma, migraines, diabetes. You name it they were not just lighter be healthier. Even more amazing was that this effect was independent of socio-economic backgrounds.

So does the new Southwark Tree Strategy look to green our urban areas?

Nope. At best it looks to maintain the status quo with real risk of slipping back and not even planting new trees at a the renewal rate. But Southwark is exactly the place where we need huge expansion in street trees for a step imprvement in health we now know can happen by greening our areas.