Branching Out - trees for today and tomorrow

More than 80 street trees will be planted in Winchelsea in 2025 as part of a project helping to create a greener, cooler place to live.

Council is partnering with community groups including Growing Winchelsea in the first stage of a shire-wide Branching Out project funded through the 2024-25 budget.

A further 80 trees will be planted in Deans Marsh this year.

Planting in Winchelsea is expected to start late winter / early spring and is being guided by Growing Winchelsea’s Arboretum Trail sub-committee concept plan.

Work in Deans Marsh is guided by planning initiated by Deans Marsh Streetscaping Group.

The Winchelsea plantings will be carried out in addition to the Winchelsea Greening and Stormwater Treatment Project, where stormwater will be used for passive irrigation of about 30 trees in selected residential streets.

The shire-wide Branching Out project is planned to run across six years, subject to future funding, resulting in about 1200 new street trees being planted in towns across the municipality.

Branching Out will also provide:

Compiling of a list of preferred tree species for towns, to ensure the right trees are planted in the right places; and

Canopy cover, heat map and socio-economic data assessments to help determine future priority planting areas.