A E Yates, National Highways, Amey and AC Landscapes organised a tree planting day on the 7th March 2024 at our A595 Moresby Improvement scheme in Whitehaven to give back to the community and the environment. The volunteers arrived at 10am and with health and safety in mind, we inducted them all and A E Yates provided hi vis vests, gloves and a shovel and the volunteers covered 3 main areas: the pond area, the swale and the embankment. The volunteers planted 2,361 native trees and scrub including English oak, hazel and elder to create woodland, scrub, and hedgerows.
Whilst working on this site we have retained Hawkeswood, an Ancient Woodland as well as grassland which is habitat for plant species and birds and planting more trees will most likely increase the percentage of wildlife residing nearby the scheme. Tree planting together with the ponds and drainage systems A E Yates constructed will reduce the flow of water and help reduce flood risk which will protect the local community. Moreover, trees improve air quality and provide opportunities for people to re-connect with nature to improve health and wellbeing.
Overall, there were 70 volunteers from A E Yates, National Highways, Amey, DSD Construction, Morgan Sindall and members of a local college and the tree planting lasted 5 hours. A E Yates want to say thank you to all the volunteers who were there on the day, it was a fantastic day and a great way to end the project.
On top of this tree planting volunteer day, an additional 1,200 trees where also planted by A E Yates during the earlier stages of the Moresby Improvement scheme as part of the landscaping on nearby roundabouts and verges in Moresby so altogether, A E Yates have helped plant over 3,500 trees on this project and this will contribute towards our goal of Net Zero by 2030: https://aeyates.co.uk/sustainability/aey-group-carbon-reduction-plan/