Stuart Ayres MP, Member for Penrith today announced that Penrith City Council and Blue Mountains City Council will receive a share of $9.9 million funding from the NSW Government, to increase tree cover and create cooler suburbs.
Stuart Ayres said these councils have secured funding as part of the Greening our City program to plant trees in public spaces.
“Quality green and open public spaces are important to everyone,” Stuart Ayres said.
“This is an excellent initiative to boost the number of trees across Penrith and the lower Blue Mountains to make them an even more comfortable and vibrant place for the community to enjoy.”
Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Rob Stokes said 20,000 trees will be planted across 23 council areas in Greater Sydney as part of the program.
“Greening our City is a wonderful program to increase our tree canopy. It was first launched in 2018 and has since delivered more than $15 million to local councils for planting 66,000 trees,” Mr Stokes said.
“We’re already more than halfway to meeting the Premier’s Priority to plant one million trees by 2022 and every tree planted from each of these programs gets us one step closer.”
Penrith City Council Deputy Mayor Tricia Hitchen said thanks to this grant we will plant over 1,100 trees to rejuvenate areas including Jamison Park and industrial corridors in North and South Penrith, Emu Plains and Emu Heights.
“Trees will be grown by Council’s own nursery and will be planted with products that will ensure efficient use of water resources.”
To increase community involvement and tree planting on private land, the NSW Government has also partnered with Bunnings Warehouse to give away 25,600 free trees to Greater Sydney households between June and October.
Stuart Ayres said our tree giveaway with Bunnings is open to all 33 local government areas throughout Greater Sydney between June and October, allowing 10,500 eligible households to get their hands on more shade, privacy and fruit trees for their home.
“Applications can be made online and the local Bunnings store will be in contact when your trees are ready to be collected and planted.”
This third round of grants are being administered by Local Government NSW (LGNSW), on behalf of the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, and support the Premier’s Priority to plant one million trees by 2022.
A list of successful grant applicants is available at: https://www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/greeningourcitygrants
For more information on the tree giveaway visit: www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/free-tree
