Council’s new tree strategy includes focuses on climate change resilience, biodiversity

Dublin City Council will be expanding its tree strategy to focus on climate change resilience and the protection of biodiversity.

These new objectives will be included in the updated strategy, which is due to be published later this year, Ludovic Beaumont, the council’s tree officer, told the members of the Community, Gaeilge, Sport, Arts and Culture Strategic Policy Committee on Monday morning.

Neither of these were included in the council’s action plan under the old strategy, which ran from 2016 to 2020.

Since the old plan expired at the end of 2020, the council has vowed repeatedly in its annual budgets to review and update the out-of-date strategy.

Now, following an analysis of the out-of-date document, the council has concluded that this new version will keep its existing tree policies and commitment to review the city’s treescapes and their management.

Only the strategy’s action plan is getting a few updates, according to slides shown to councillors and non-elected members of the committee on Monday, 19 January.

Among the new actions listed in the plan is the intention to carry out a tree canopy survey to map existing coverage and assist in prioritising areas that need more trees, and establish tree crews who will be able to carry out minor works within different residential areas.

“It’s a very positive development,” said Green Party Councillor Carolyn Moore, speaking on Tuesday.

As the council prepares to launch its new website, there will also be a dedicated tree page that keeps residents abreast of the programmed tree works in their area, slides from the presentation show.

Letting local residents know what is happening to their trees and why is necessary, Moore says. “Really it’s to make sure everyone understands that it is never the council’s objective to remove healthy trees, and to let them know there is a long term strategy in place,” she says.

Once the new strategy is published, it will be in effect until 2036, Beaumont told the committee yesterday morning, with the action plan being reviewed in five years time.

They’ll be planting in the streets

The council will be trialing a series of new watering technologies to promote the establishment of newly planted trees, Beaumont said at the meeting.

This would also help to conserve water, he said. “There is new technologies that allow us to look at the level of humidity in the soil, and basically will allow us to see when the tree needs to be watered.”

The council will also look to organise a new tree canopy percentage survey, he said.

Once that is completed this year, they will be able to ensure that there is no net loss of urban green space or tree canopy cover, he said. “We can try to increase it, or protect it.”

A survey like this was done before, Social Democrats Councillor Cat O’Driscoll said, speaking by phone on Tuesday. “That was the most useful thing I’ve seen done regarding trees, because it informed us where greening was needed.”

It helped programmes like the Stoneybatter Greening Strategy, which aimed to boost biodiversity, and green infrastructure, and open up cycling and pedestrian routes, she says. “It was very community engaging.”

“Concrete-heavy” places like Cabra could benefit, as could East Wall, she says. “A new tree canopy survey could give us a great evidence base, because we lose trees for a number of reasons, like storms or infrastructural works, or health and safety.”

From previous surveys, Beaumont said at the meeting, the council already knows that in the city centre, there are districts where the percentage of the areas covered with tree canopy is between 0 and 5 percent, he said. “In some more green areas it’s nearly 15 to 20 percent.”

Greening strategies will be prioritising those districts with the lowest amount of greenery, he said.

Necessary works

The council will establish dedicated tree crews under the new plan, to carry out minor works within residential areas, Beaumont said at the meeting on Monday. “There will be three groups employed by DCC directly.”

A pilot programme of hornbeam pollarding will run over the next five years, according to slides shown at the meeting. 

Pollarding is a kind of extra-vigorous pruning, really cutting the trees back severely, so their branches and leaves don’t get out of hand. 

That trial was started in 2025, but it was delayed, he said. “So we are halfway.”

But they plan to pollard 250 of these trees by the end of the year, he said, as fastigiate hornbeams can become problems as they become bulkier when maturing.

The new plan will also aim to expand its schemes to provide appropriate trees to communities for planting in private gardens, the plan says.

This will target areas with limited or no planting opportunities available in the public realm, he said. “Again, some streets, because the footpath is too narrow, there is no space for planting.”

It’s already started at a local level, he said. “So it’s just to continue that.”

Each of the historic parks and squares in the city will get its own planting strategy, he said. “Basically, we have some very important parks with a specific landscape.”

Most of the time those specific landscapes have to be protected and retained, he said. “But also we have to look at how this is going to survive climate change.”

Getting with the times

Under the new action plan, the council needs to communicate more effectively, Beaumont said. “On the new [Dublin City Council] website, there will be a lot more explaining what we do.”

The council will have a revamped tree page available in the second half of this year, the presentation says, with its new features including information on programmed tree works, annual tree planting and the tree population in parks.

As part of the new actions that protect and promote biodiversity, the council will be liaising with the National Parks and Wildlife Service to agree on protocols when carrying out essential tree works in the vicinity of bat roosts in the city’s parks, the plan says.

Within the parks too, the council will identify and survey protected and sensitive habitats, create an inventory of historic and veteran trees, it says.

In relation to climate change resilience, the council will be analysing the results of its tree inventory to introduce more tree species diversity, and convert tree maintenance hand tools from petrol to rechargeable electric versions, it says.

They will also create a register of newly introduced tree species and review these every year to assess their sustainability in the city, it says, noting that this will be reviewed in 2030.

The new strategy is going to run for a total of 10 years, concluding in 2036, Beaumont said, noting too that the council will review this action plan in 2030.