Sowing the seed

We are working closely with environmentalists to plant around 5,000 native trees, shrubs and hedgerows in its network area this year.

Tracy Carr, Community Liason Officer with the Little Mead Eco Team.

We are committed as a company to minimising our operational impact on the environment. We have been working in partnership with specialists like The Conservation Volunteers and Silvanus Trust to improve and enhance the natural environment across the communities we serve.

The partnership has already seen over 40,000 new native trees and shrubs planted at a rate of around 5,000 a year.

WPD Network Services Manager, Mark Shaw explained: “We are committed to our tree planting partnerships because an important part of our activity involves trimming or cutting trees that grow too close to overhead power lines. This is done to prevent them from disrupting power supplies and to ensure public safety.

“Safety is our number one priority and ensuring that trees don’t get too close to overhead power lines is essential. Electricity can travel down a branch or the trunk while the tree can also act as a climbing aid which may put a person in danger of coming into contact with a power line.

“In step with Government targets, we have increased our resilience tree cutting programme to ensure that when the wind blows, a branch or a falling tree does not come into contact with or damage our overhead lines and affect power supplies.

“Our tree cutting specialists are required to work closely with landowners to gain the necessary permissions in advance of any work taking place.

“Currently, we are on target to deliver our resilience programme five years ahead of the target suggested by Government, which is helping us to reduce power cuts by 16% and restore supplies 23% quicker,” added Mark.

For more information on our tree planting scheme click here.