A $1 million grant to Penrith City Council under the NSW Government's Greening Our City program will see 5,000 new street and park trees planted across Penrith.
These trees will be planted in our eastern most suburbs, identified by heat mapping as priority areas, and also due to having low canopy levels and greater numbers of residents particularly vulnerable to heat.
Penrith Mayor Karen McKeown OAM said that she is delighted that this grant funding for our City is also being matched by another $1 million from Council.
"These combined funds mean that we can undertake even more vital work to increase canopy levels across our Local Government Area, as part of Council's Cooling the City strategy," Cr McKeown said.
"Trees funded under this program will be planted in St Marys, North St Marys, Colyton, Oxley Park, St Clair, and Erskine Park. Council wants to help make these areas greener places to be, with streets and parks that include more trees, to create better liveability for local residents."
Member for Penrith and Minister for Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said that the Greening our City program had funded 110 projects across Greater Sydney with more than $25 million in grant funding for tree planting and urban greening projects.
"Quality green and open public spaces are important to everyone. More trees mean better air quality, cooler local temperatures, better places for people to be active and connected and vital habitat for our unique birds and local wildlife," Mr Ayres said.
"We're already more than halfway to meeting the NSW Government's Greening our City Premier's Priority to plant one million trees by 2022, and every tree planted from this program gets us one step closer."
Park tree planting work in Penrith under this program has already begun and will be complete in approximately mid-2022. Planting will not occur throughout the hot summer period in Western Sydney to give our trees the best chance of survival.
The street tree planting program is scheduled to commence in late February next year.
Research shows that street trees provide a wide range of benefits for suburban streets. Trees have been shown to improve the value of homes, while also making it cheaper to keep them cool in summer. The local environment also benefits through the capture of air pollution and stormwater runoff, as well as new habitat for birdlife.
Trees can improve mental well-being by increasing people's connection with nature. They also benefit community health by encouraging people to get outside and be more active.
To read more about Council's tree planting work visit: penrith.city/treeplanting
For more information on the Greening our City program visit: www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/greeningourcitygrants
