Oxfordshire County Council’s Tree Service

Trees are critical elements of Climate Change Adaptation infrastructure and are identified as public assets. They are also a core element of the biodiversity, amenity and landscape of Oxfordshire.

The Tree Service's role is to ensure trees under the responsibility of Oxfordshire County Council are maintained for the long-term benefit of the communities they contribute to. 

We are responsible for approximately 600,000 trees across the County. We care for trees along approximately 4,600 km of public highway and across more than 100 property sites, including land where the County has responsibility for tree care.

The Tree Service works closely with a variety of departments and functions within the County to deliver a holistic approach to tree care, which is supported by our Tree Policy.

Oxfordshire County Council recognises the need for proactive tree care. Maintaining and enabling canopy growth delivers key objectives to aid climate resilience and provide environmental, health & well-being benefits to residents and visitors across the County.

Our roles and experience

The Tree Service is overseen by the Tree Service Manager, supported by three Senior Tree Officers, each with focused responsibilities related to highways, properties, estates, schools, or tree planting.

We have five Tree Officers and a Tree Inspector. Each Tree Officer oversees tree care in a specific area, currently a District or City Council area. Our Tree Inspector is primarily focused on trees within property and estate sites, but also supports Tree Officers with highway-related surveys.

All members of the Tree Service who inspect established trees are professionally trained, experienced and qualified in Arboriculture (the management and study of individual trees and other perennial woody plants).

A new and important component of the Tree Service is the Tree Aftercare & Planting Service (TAPS), who focus on tree planting across the County to deliver policy commitments for replacing trees as well as delivering new tree planting. Currently, most tree planting is focused on highway-related planting in established urban areas.

Tree planting

As well as managing OCC's existing trees, the Tree Service has been planting new trees since 2023. We have committed to planting over 4,400 standard trees, primarily on the highway network, by the end of 2028.

How do we decide where to plant?

Planting sites are chosen through one of three pathways:

Requests from members of the public

Any member of the public can request trees to be planted on highway land (e.g. grass roadside verges). You can also request help or advice with community tree planting projects – submit your project ideas and tree requests through our online form here: Oxfordshire County Council Tree and Woodland Project Submission or Start a community tree or woodland project | Climate Action Oxfordshire

High priority areas of low canopy cover and/or high social deprivation 

We use metrics such as percentage canopy cover and the Index of Multiple Deprivation to identify the places in Oxfordshire where trees are most needed and where their benefits will have the greatest impact.

Replacement of trees that have been felled

Per the Tree Policy for Oxfordshire, we have the following commitment:

“For every tree that is on Oxfordshire County Council land or is the responsibility of the Authority and has a Stem Diameter of 15cm or greater at the time of removal, two trees will be planted.”

Parish councils looking to plant trees on their own land can engage the Tree Service for advice, tree procurement, and the planting service offered by the TAPS team.

Why do we plant trees?

Tree planting is a major component of delivering our policy commitments. The County Council recognises trees as a public asset and a critical element of climate change adaptation infrastructure. 

As well as replacing every tree removed with two, we are committed to increasing canopy cover within the council’s responsibilities. Oxfordshire has an ageing tree stock and established diseases, such as ash dieback, have had a significant impact on our trees. We are planting a diverse range of species to enhance the diversity and resilience of our tree stock, enabling it to adapt to existing and emerging pests and diseases, as well as the effects of climate change.

Trees provide a huge range of benefits to people, nature, and the environment. Read about them in detail here (link to tree benefits page)

Tree Guardians

We have ambitious planting targets, with which come high demands for aftercare to succeed. Residents all across the county have joined us in nurturing our new trees as volunteer Tree Guardians. We welcome anyone to get involved with watering and more - you can sign up at any time by emailing tree.planting@oxfordshire.gov.uk