2022-03-31-accounts - Street Trees For Living

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11.11 lllf ET r Annual Report Our Impact 2021 /2022 INJ

Who we are

Street Trees for Living is a dynamic community led charity with a vision to transform urban streets by planting trees. We’ve planted 1,364 street trees in Lewisham so far, and we have a nation beating survival rate of 95%. We achieve this by enthusing community members to sponsor and personally care for trees for at least the first two years. We engage and encourage community support on every single . street that we have planted – nearly 500 volunteers in total

Our successful approach totally relies on our inclusive community consultation. We show community members how they can take control of their public environment when they often thought they could have no impact.

Our work makes a positive contribution to the social and environmental future of Lewisham.

“A street without trees is like a party without music.”

“STfL is more relevant than it has ever been with green space now becoming a top priority for London residents.”

STfL Chair Xanthe Mosley

Tree planting 20/21

STfL have planted a record of 294 street trees this winter! This exceeds our target of 250 street trees planted each year. Thanks to funding donated by hundreds of residents, PTAs, the Urban Tree Challenge Fund and significant contributions from Lewisham Council, we’ve planted a diverse range of street trees including magnolias, halesia carolina snow bell, silver birches and field maples.

Walks and talks

Volunteers

Many new volunteers have joined us this year. We are proud that hundreds of people – 500 in fact – help out in a wide range of roles from area reps and street reps facilitating resident tree planting requests to social media volunteers and IT experts helping us manage our increasingly complex information and processes. We even have a dedicated tree care team! A big thank you all our lovely volunteers for their time, ongoing commitment and enthusiasm. The streets of Lewisham are flourishing, thanks to you!

STfL hosted a number of walks and talks to build knowledge about trees and to share best practice.

May 2021: At the Urban Tree Festival, Chair Xanthe Mosley was part of a panel to talk and answer questions about community tree planting.

September 2021: Our patron Paul Wood held a tree walk for our area rep volunteers to help them with tree species knowledge.

October 2021: LTOA (London Tree Officer’s Association) Chris Suthers of ‘Street Tree’ held a webinar about planting trees in Lewisham with us!

January 2022: Chair Xanthe Mosley held a talk about innovative ways to plant street trees at the Garden Museum.

2 | STREET TREES FOR LIVING Annual Report 2021/2022

“Looking after the trees and watching them grow makes our children feel pro ud of the fact that they are helping to look after the planet.” Rathfern Primary School

77 new trees outside 11 Lewisham schools

The STfL School Trees Project has provided much needed greenery around Lewisham Primary schools by planting trees outside and inside school playgrounds.

This winter 77 trees have been planted outside 11 schools. Since the project started at the end of 2019, a total of 181 trees have been planted outside 23 primary schools in Lewisham in 14 of its wards.

As the trees mature they will start to provide children with much needed screening from road pollution. The project encourages carers and children to walk to school and to leave their cars at home. It involves children as well as the rest of the school community in caring for the trees.

During lesson time children have been learning about planting trees with STfL’s tailored lesson plans, which have been provided to all schools taking part in the project. To add to the fun, children are encouraged to take turns in watering the trees, and many of the participating schools have organised naming competitions where the children’s chosen names appear on the tree’s label.

STfL Project Manager, Marie-Claire Denyer has been very encouraged by the schools’ responses to the project: “It has been very uplifting to see The School Trees Project grow from strength to strength since it started in 2019. We are now also planting inside school grounds as well as on the streets outside, and have just started working with Lewisham Council’s climate resilience team to address surface water fl ooding outside schools. This is done by SuDS (sustainable urban drainage systems) tree pits: these absorb higher amounts of rainwater and therefore reduce the incidence of fl ooding.”

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“Planting trees on Rathfern
Road has closed a historical
chasm between the school
community and Rathfern Road
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neighbours. Since the planting of the trees there is increased in trust and warmth now being felt in communication between Rathfern Road residents and Rathfern School Community.

Neighbours have commented on children watering trees as they now see fi rst-hand our children’s respect for nature and their local environment. The Spring blossom and green leaves on our street trees have lifted everyone’s hearts, enhanced our collective well-being and helped to build a community spirit. Thank YOU.”

Naheeda Maharasingam Head Teacher and Network Lead Rathfern Research Hub

3 | STREET TREES FOR LIVING Annual Report 2021/2022

Transforming housing estates in Deptford

Residents and visitors are so happy to see trees go into our green spaces and it is already bringing our ‘covid fractured’ community back together. The whole feel of the area has been lifted into a more natural environment and more people here are now realising the importance of trees.”

Street Trees for Living STfL) has partnered with the National Trust, Lewisham Council, Street Tree Ltd and residents to deliver Lewisham Blossoms , a tree planting programme that will provide greener spaces on the Evelyn and Pepys Estates in Deptford, southeast London – one of London’s most densely populated areas.

David Almond, member of the Tenants Resident Association, Pepys Estate, Deptford.

Sixty seven street trees have been planted along main roads, outside shops and schools, and in residential streets in Evelyn ward. Air quality is a serious problem in inner city areas and these new trees will help improve this and bring nature much closer for many local families. Not only local families will benefit but every tree we plant now will make a huge difference to us all in the future.

“We are trusted by our tree sponsors, Lewisham Council, funding partners and volunteers to deliver a thriving forest of street trees in Lewisham.”

STfL Chair Xanthe Mosley

Promoting street tree diversity

In this year’s planting we have been addressing the importance of street tree diversity in our communication with residents and on our website. The 10-20-30 rule (Santamour, F, 2002) is a method of ensuring your tree population remains sufficiently diverse:

No more than 10% should be the same species (prunus avium, wild cherry)
No more than 20% should be the same genus (prunus, cherry)
No more than 30% should be the same family (Rosacea Family)

Our recent tree audit has revealed that of 1,110 trees STfL have planted, 418 trees (43%) are within the Rosacea Family, these included 173 Prunus, 126 Sorbus, 114 Malus, 40 Pyrus and 30 Crateagus.

This means we are planting too many street trees in the Rosacea family. The Rosacea family trees are usually smaller trees making them suitable for narrow pavements. They are also important for wildlife including birds and pollinating insects such as bees. We will still continue to plant these trees in sites where they are best suited, but at the same time encourage planting of suitable street trees from other families to promote street tree diversity.

4 | STREET TREES FOR LIVING Annual Report 2020/2021

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Historic wood regenerated with 41
new trees in the Horniman Triangle
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STfL, Lewisham Council and local residents successfully secured funding this year for 41 trees, which were planted near the sandpit opposite the Horniman Gardens in Forest Hill.

where nature is growing its own 20 sapling oaks!

These native trees have grown on this site for hundreds if not thousands of years as part of the Great North Wood. This once covered a huge area from the North Downs near Croydon to the Thames near Deptford Creek. The place names Forest Hill, One Tree Hill and Honor Oak remind us of the last hill-top stands of this historic forest.

Residents’ donations provided match-funding towards the project. We have plans to plant more trees next winter.

Nine common hornbeam were planted as well as smaller trees such as cockspur, hazel, rowan and wild cherry. Fast growing alder and aspen planted will protect the playground from South Circular traffic pollution, as will two holly trees and twenty hawthorn saplings in the roadside hedge. There is an area of spontaneous oak regeneration on the Triangle

Our planting fills a gap in the wildlife corridor between Sydenham Hill Wood and One Tree Hill and is therefore good for wildlife. Tawny owls and hedgehogs which have retreated from Lewisham into Sydenham Hill Wood, could come back. Many migrant birds which fly along this corridor could now well stop off for a quick feed.

New 5 mile blossom walk

STfL is creating a beautiful 5 mile blossom walk in memory of a Lewisham resident. 100 trees will be planted over three years, 24 planted in 21/22, a further 40 in 22/23, to be finished in 23/24. The walk will meander through the back streets of six Lewisham wards and six parks. The walk is funded by local people and residents nearby the trees, have been engaged to take on the necessary watering and maintenance.

Special labels on the trees will help you recognise which trees are part of the walk.

Regular Cleaning – a corporate leader in sustainability

Keen to give back to the Lewisham community, Regular Cleaning, a Lewisham based company providing cleaning services in the City of London, started looking locally to step up their sustainability initiatives by investing in Lewisham’s street trees. It has planted 30 trees so far outside Lewisham schools to provide much needed screening from traffic pollution.

The company’s drive and commitment to be more sustainable started in 2018, when it invested in the print management software, Paper Cut. This software enabled Regular Cleaning to drastically cut down on their paper usage and offset the amount it continues to use through the simple act of planting trees.

Street Trees for Living is looking forward to continuing our work with Regular Cleaning. Next year a further 10 street trees will be planted as part of the School Trees Project to offset their 10 trees worth of paper each year. Thank you Regular Cleaning!

“This partnership has been a true collaboration, and we look forward to planting many more trees with STfL in years to come.” Local business Regular Cleaning

5 | STREET TREES FOR LIVING Annual Report 2021/2022

Annual tree audit

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Tree health
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To ensure our growing tree stock remains healthy and strong, we carry out a yearly audit. Volunteer auditors join our tree auditing team to complete our survey of STfL trees throughout Lewisham

Checks will include seeing how healthy the tree is, whether it needs pruning, weeding or restaking, and taking a photo. Yearly monitoring of all our trees is important as it reduces tree loss by detecting any problems at an early stage. We also measure our trees to log carbon capture data.

The Tree Care Team make sure our street trees are in great shape

We are proud of our street tree survival rate. It’s an incredible 95%.

“It is immensely satisfying work. Street trees really transform a street and with a little care and attention, the trees begin to look so much better. We have been getting good feedback from local residents as we work.”

We believe this is down to our innovative residential watering scheme and our dedicated Tree Care Team who tackle essential ongoing tree care maintenance work.

“Street trees have a hard life

because they are surrounded by concrete and traffi c pollution. They are often damaged by road traffi c and sometimes by pedestrians too, this is why they need all the care we can provide.“

The Tree Care Team – made up entirely of volunteers – meet every week to clear rubbish and weeds from around the base of the trees, adjust, fi x or remove straps and stakes and sort out the protective cages. The horticultural volunteer experts of the team focus on pruning damaged branches and identifying disease.

Xanthe Mosley, Chair of Street Trees for Living, said “We have some very dedicated volunteers who have exceptional knowledge about disease and pruning and all aspects of maintenance. What a difference their regular tree care makes to the trees.“

Team Leader Bea Mills said “As the STfL street trees are growing older, some require attention. Our annual street tree audit is our starting point for identifying which street trees need maintenance and care and we prioritise accordingly.”

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“I am amazed at
what STfL achieves
on a shoe string”
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Making Connections

Through a combination of increasing our tree stock and improving our engagement with residents, our network has grown by 400% during 2021/2022.

We have:

started a monthly Street Trees for Living e-newsletter
begun regular posts across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn by our volunteer social media team
attached 586 bespoke tree labels attached to our street trees this year with information about the trees. The labels are a very effective way to promote the scheme to other residents.

Keep in touch

www.streettreesforliving.org

@STfLLondon STfLLondon @streettreesforliving.org

Thanks to our partners

Trustees’ Annual Report - appendix

1 April 2021 - 31 March 2022

Charity name: Street Trees for Living

Charity registration number: 1185165

Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document

1) For the public benefit to promote the physical enhancement and beautification of publicly accessible spaces in such London Boroughs as the trustees shall determine, by the planting of trees and securing their guardianship.

2) To promote the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment for the public benefit, in particular by encouraging tree planting in publicly accessible spaces in such London Boroughs as the trustees shall determine to increase biodiversity and promote the benefits of a healthy relationship between trees and humans.

Street Trees for Living has achieved its objectives in the following way:

The “beautification of streets” was achieved by planting 294 trees on streets in Lewisham over the reporting period 1 Apr 2021- 31 Mar 2022. Of these 77 were planted in avenues outside 25 primary schools in Lewisham. To date, 172 trees have been planted outside primary schools in Lewisham by STfL.
The promotion of “the benefits of a healthy relationship between trees and humans” was achieved by the recruitment and subsequent support of volunteers/guardians to water approximately 450 trees starting in March 2020.
To ‘increase biodiversity’ STfL is working towards the 10-20-30 rule. For winter 2021/22, the highest proportion of trees from one genus was 16% (Acer), which is in line with no more than 20% of trees should be the same genus. The highest proportion of trees from one family was 31.4% (Rosacea), which is approaching no more than 30% of trees should be from the same family.

All of our trees are planted in public places in the Borough’s 18 wards. This shows that the benefits of our trees are enjoyed by a wide section of the public who live or work in Lewisham. Our tree survival rate is very high as residents undertake watering and maintenance. Up until now we have had a 96% survival rate. All dead trees have been replaced.

In these ways we consider that we have “had regard of to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit”

294 street trees were ordered and planted in Lewisham.

Note that the number of trees previously planted were:

1 in 2011/12, 3 in 2012/13, 13 in 2013/14, 39 in 2014/15, 33 in 2015/16, 72 in 2016/17, 230 in 2017/18, 205 in 2018/19, 239 in 2019/20, 260 in 2020/21, 294 in 2021/22

These 294 street trees were planted across Lewisham, in seventeen of the eighteen wards of Lewisham. Note that the number of wards trees were previously planted in were:

1 in 2011/12, 1 in 2012/13, 2 in 2013/14, 2 in 2014/15, 3 in 2015/16, 9 in 2016/17 13 in 2017/18, 15 in 2018/19, 16 in 2019/20. 17 in 2020/2117 in 2021/22

STfL charity coordinated volunteer roles of bookkeeping, gift aid submission, writing funding applications, helping to discuss and frame

policies and procedures, continued to support a tree maintenance group, and a social media group (twitter, Instagram and Facebook, SEO development).

Seventeen volunteer “Area-reps” (the operational team), surveyed and scanned streets and liaised with Lewisham council and street tree sponsors, initiated planting of up to 294 trees across the Borough during the winter 21/22. We consider it a fantastic achievement to plant record numbers of street trees during the second pandemic year. The three main challenges we faced were:

Many residents in Lewisham were hit hard by the pandemic, losing jobs and needing to make use of food banks, but the residents still managed to raise the funds to plant trees.
The tree planting teams were challenged by contracting Covid. Trees are heavy and need to be lifted by two men - social distancing was a challenge. Street Tree, the contractors, achieved the plantings even with these difficulties.
Fundraising for the School Trees was being mainly undertaken by the school PTAs, who would normally host events to raise funds. These weren’t possible due to Covid, however STfL still managed to secure a minimum match funding of £300 per school.

We regard our engagement of community volunteers one of our biggest achievements. Each year our numbers of volunteers increases, which in turn promotes and develops the depth and reach of the charity.

The Operational team (Area Representatives) was expanded from thirteen to eighteen, reducing the pressure on existing team members, and thereby improving the service for residents.
New relationships with sponsors were begun to allow coverage of 17 of the 18 wards in the borough.
STFL successfully resolved contractors’ problems with species availability affecting approximately 10-15 trees, by negotiating alternative choices.
400 sites were surveyed and scanned with a C Scope street scanner by the charity’s volunteers for potential planting in winter 2021/22. These were all photographed and submitted to the L/A Tree Officer for assessment on behalf of sponsors.

Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period

The Charity has no current liabilities.

Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held

STfL has a policy to hold unrestricted reserves to the value of at least 5 trees. Currently this would be £1,500. The annual running costs include insurance, bank charges, IT services and other miscellaneous expenses. The reserve amount will be recalculated annually to take account of any changes to the following year’s predicted expenses.

Amount of reserves held

As of March 31st, we have £155,720.84 in our current account.

Reasons for holding zero reserves

N/A, Reserves held

Details of fund materially in deficit

STfL has no material deficit.

Explanation of any uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern

We have no financial uncertainties about the Charity continuing as a going concern for the next 12 months. The Charity is run mainly by volunteers, with two paid part-time staff and as such has no high fixed costs. Any annual expenses can thus be kept to a minimum and be funded if needed by reserve fund which will be created for the coming financial year.

The charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising)

Over the reporting period the charity raised approximately £77,000 from local residents.

£160,000 to be spent over three years from DEFRA/GLA

Work continued with The National Trust on a grant, delayed by the pandemic, of £12,000 to plant up to 19 trees in the borough of Evelyn in the winter 2021/22

£1972.89 of Gift aid was applied for and granted in May 2020

£1555.00 of Gift aid was applied for and granted in February 2021

£1,500 donation from private organisation for funding of school trees.

A donation of £600 to buy a C Scope scanner was given by one of the trustees.

Investment policy and objectives including any social investment policy adopted

n/a

A description of the principal risks facing the charity

The trustees maintain a risk register to log and assess the charity’s principal risks. Our top three risks refer to maintaining a sustainable financial position through fundraising; succession planning for trustees; growing and developing the charity’s paid staff and volunteers; and maintaining the health and longevity of the trees.

One major risk identified by the Trustees over the reporting period was the high dependence of the charity on the volunteering by one of the founding Trustees. Successful attempts were made to recruit more volunteers in the community.

This risk was particularly felt during the pandemic - we expected volunteers to stand down but the opposite was the case and many residents were keen to volunteer with us. Filling various roles which had not been filled previously.

Recruitment for a new treasurer trustee began in January with the intention to widen the skills set of the trustee board. A new treasurer was successfully recruited.

Statement of Financial Activities 2021/22

Receipts and Payments Account Between 31 March 2021 and 31 March 2022	Total 2020/21	Restricted£	Unrestricted£ Total 2021/22£
Income
	37,082.32 12,896.87
Restricted Tree donations to STfL Unrestricted Donations Total Income		74,674.86	74,674.86
			43,072.12 43,072.12
	49,979.19	74,674.86	43,072.12 117,746.98

Expenses
	-69 -446.88 (1,188.76) (114.30) 0.00 (205.00) (2,223.00) 0.00
Bank Fees (£8 a Month) Insurance IT Services & Equipment Tree Maintenance costs (inc. Labels) Miscellaneous Advertising Services Lewisham Council Total Expences		(45,920.00)	(96.00) -96 (687.33) -687.33 (1,532.32) (1,532.32) (1,224.88) (1,224.88) (1,714.00) (1,714.00) (1,613.79) (1,613.79) (2,500.00) (2,500.00) (45,920.00)
	(4,246.94)		(9,368.32) (55,288.32)

Income Less Expenses

Income Less Expenses	45,732.25		62,458.66


Statement of Financial Position

Cash Funds: Amount in Bank Current account on March 31st 2022
			£155,720.84

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

ty Name Street Trees for Living	ty Name Street Trees for Living	ty Name Street Trees for Living

31st March 2022	Charity no (if any)	1185165

1-2 (remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/03/2022/ MM / YYYY. As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement Signed: Name: Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): Address:	I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination (other than that disclosed below ) which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: • the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or • the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or • the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Andrew Stratton McMurtrie Date:22ndSeptember 2022	I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination (other than that disclosed below ) which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: • the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or • the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or • the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Andrew Stratton McMurtrie Date:22ndSeptember 2022
		22ndSeptember 2022

	Andrew Stratton McMurtrie

	Member of Chartered Institute of Securities & Investment

	6 Northwood Road, London, SE23 2HR

Oct 2018

IER

Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

Oct 2018

IER