Seven hundred trees have been planted in an East Lancashire village to enhance biodiversity and wildlife.  

Colleagues from SP Electricity North West carried out the activity on land it owns on Clover Hill Road, Nelson to create a ‘wildlife hedge.’ 

The project, delivered in conjunction with the Ribble Rivers Trust and the Nelson Allotment Society, is part of the power network operator’s commitment to plant 10,000 trees per year, up until 2028.  

Richard Mosson, SP Electricity North West’s biodiversity manager, said: “We have highly trained arborists within the business who work year-round to prevent trees and branches coming into contact with overhead lines when bad weather hits.  

“Understandably, customers want to see us do more when trees are pruned and cut back so that’s why we made a commitment to plant 10,000 new trees each year from 2023-2028.  

“The site in Nelson is a perfect example of how we want to enhance biodiversity within our region. While we own the site, the land has been tenanted by the allotment society for many years.  

“With the tenancy up for renewal, we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to work with them and plant the trees so we can benefit the local community and deliver on our environmental commitments.” 

As well as planting 700 trees, SP Electricity North West also donated a selection of fruit trees which have been planted on the land.  

Clover Hill Road is one of three sites in Lancashire which is being delivered in conjunction with the Ribble Rivers Trust.  

To date, 70 colleagues within SP Electricity North West have utilised volunteering days to plant 32,000 trees across nine sites in the region.