Weston-super-Mare's 59 most notable trees have been accredited as an arboretum by ArbNet. What the Level I standard actually requires, and which trees are on the list.

Fifty-nine trees and groups of trees around Weston-super-Mare have been accredited as an arboretum by ArbNet, the international body that runs the only global accreditation scheme for arboreta. North Somerset Council announced the accreditation on Monday afternoon. (North Somerset Council, 24 August)

ArbNet’s Morton Register lists the Weston Community Arboretum at Level I, the entry grade of a four-level scheme. (ArbNet, Morton Register)

It is a town, not a park

Most accredited arboreta are a single site. This one is not. The 59 entries are existing trees standing where they already stood, scattered across a four-mile radius, so seeing them means walking or driving around Weston rather than paying at a gate. (North Somerset Council, Weston community arboretum)

Trees were picked for their structure, their scarcity in the town, or for being unusual specimens. Named sites so far include:

  • Clarence Park West, for its windswept London planes
  • Milton Cemetery, for a mixed collection of trees and wildflowers
  • A Lucombe oak in Farm Close, kept and built around when the housing estate went up in the 1990s and 2000s
  • Hornbeams roughly 10 to 15 years old on the Millennium Green open space off Langford Road

The council has published a map with a pin for each tree. Selecting a pin gives the location, the species, the size and a photograph, and in some cases a video of a resident talking about that particular tree.

What Level I accreditation actually means

ArbNet accreditation is free to apply for and lasts five years, and an arboretum can move up a level whenever it meets the higher requirements. To be accredited at Level I, an organisation has to show it has: (ArbNet, Level I accreditation)

  • an arboretum plan setting out the purpose, the audiences, the plants grown and how they will be maintained
  • a governing group committed to carrying that plan out beyond any one individual
  • at least one member of staff or a volunteer who manages the arboretum
  • a collection of 25 or more different taxa of trees and woody plants, labelled or mapped in a way the public can see. Numbered labels do not count
  • at least one tree-related event a year that is open to the general public

That last requirement is the one residents are most likely to notice, because it commits the group to putting on something public every year.

Who is behind it

The Weston Tree and Plant Group brings together North Somerset Council, Weston-super-Mare Town Council, Weston-super-Mare Civic Society, local interest groups and volunteers.

In its own submission to ArbNet the group is blunt about why it bothered: “Weston-super-Mare has lower than average canopy cover for the UK; by highlighting and unashamedly showing off our fantastic trees, we hope to inspire local residents to plant appropriate tree species in their gardens.”

Councillor Mark Canniford, North Somerset Council’s cabinet member for sustainable places, said the accreditation was “a testament to the dedication of everyone involved in the Weston Tree and Plant Group”.

Councillor John Crockford-Hawley, chairman of Weston-super-Mare Town Council’s amenities, culture and leisure committee, said trees and hedges “form part of the green heritage in our streets, parks, cemeteries, public open spaces and private gardens”.

What it means for you

The accreditation does not change anyone’s rights over these trees and it is not a legal protection. Trees are protected individually by tree preservation orders or by sitting in a conservation area, and that is a separate council process with its own rules about giving notice before doing any work. (North Somerset Council, protected trees)

What it does give the town is a mapped, free, open-air trail that works in any weather and costs nothing, and a group that now has to run at least one public tree event a year to keep its status. The map and the tree list are on the council’s website, and the Weston Tree and Plant Group has its own site at wsmtrees.co.uk.

More North Somerset coverage: things to do in North Somerset and planning applications and decisions, where tree work applications appear most weeks.