A recent report prepared on behalf of Sheffield City Council has established that tree density across the city is much higher than the UK average.

The report, prepared by Treeconomics, uses a sampling methodology outlined in the i-tree Eco V6 modelling tool, to provide a detailed analysis of the city’s urban forest.

It found that tree density across Sheffield is 105 trees per hectare. This is significantly higher than the average density of trees across London (53 trees/ha) and the current UK average for towns and cities (58 trees/ha). Roughly speaking, this equates to around 7 trees per person.

READ MORE: First UK city develops Urban Forest Master Plan

Across Sheffield there are an estimated 3,863,630 trees over 7 cm stem diameter. The trees that make up this urban forest are situated on both public and private property. Across the whole survey area, the report estimates that around 60 per cent of trees are in public ownership and 39 per cent in private ownership. By comparison, a similar study in Greater London was 43 per cent public and 57 per cent private ownership.

The report also found that Sheffield’s trees alleviate 520,199 m³ of storm water per year.

Kenton Rogers, co-founder of Treeconomics, commented: “This kind of data is crucial to inform management decisions around urban trees – with better data we can make better choices.”

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