It was great to read in the Courier recently that East Lothian Council is planning to plant two million trees in East Lothian over the next 10 years.

While doing this, I’d like to encourage the council to apply the mantra ‘Right trees, right place, right reason’, or these trees and their future growth are doomed.

We have all seen the damage that mono-culture planting can do to landscapes and wildlife. Trees for this Climate Forest need to be native species that enhance biodiversity, planted where they can thrive, connect isolated pockets of wildlife and benefit our local communities.

They should also be planted in a way that improves people’s enjoyment of their neighbourhood, while capturing carbon, reducing pollution and mitigating flooding.

The council should lead by example and take full advantage of its own parks, playing fields, school grounds, open spaces and verges to create wildlife corridors of trees and hedgerows, while building a network of green spaces for the people of East Lothian to enjoy.

The golfing community could also play a major role in this project.

East Lothian will also need to sign up new development to a 30 per cent tree cover and make developers plant at least one tree per garden space created.

This, along with boundary hedges and native flowering areas, should help achieve the council’s ambitious carbon targets.

The proposed Climate Forest must also take into account local communities and their much-loved large mature trees currently in situ.

The landscape of our county is changing, let’s make it for the better with the right trees, in the right space for the right reason.

T Proudfoot

Victoria Road

North Berwick