Tree collection to start - to help save the sand dunes

Christmas officially ends tomorrow '“ and residents have been urged not to throw away their unwanted trees.
Andrew Hampson, Coast and Countryside Ranger at Fylde Council with the first of the expected hundreds of Christmas treesAndrew Hampson, Coast and Countryside Ranger at Fylde Council with the first of the expected hundreds of Christmas trees
Andrew Hampson, Coast and Countryside Ranger at Fylde Council with the first of the expected hundreds of Christmas trees

Instead, they have been asked to donate them to a good cause – helping to maintain the sand dunes in St Annes.

Last year, 1,000 trees were planted on the beach by Fylde Council staff and volunteers, and this year’s planting is pencilled in to take place on February 6, 7, and 8.

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Volunteers from St Annes in Bloom will be collecting around 400 trees from addresses in the town, while residents from all over Fylde can drop 
their tree off at council collection points, which will be open until Monday, January 16.

Coun Tony Form, who has been involved with the scheme from the outset as chairman of Fylde Lib Dems and treasurer of St Annes in Bloom, said: “We are collecting them so people don’t chop their trees up and put them in the green bin or send them to the tip.”

Once planted, the trees will trap windblown sand and stop it from being displaced on the roads, as well as slow the pace of erosion on the network of dunes.

The annual feat has proven successful before, and hundreds of tonnes of sand have been kept on the dunes as a result.

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Geoff Willetts, senior coast and countryside officer at Fylde Council, previously said: “Keeping sand on the dunes acts as a soft sea defence when the waves are really high, so thousands of residents are gaining by recycling their Christmas trees.”

The collection points are:

Elswick Village Hall; St Paul’s Avenue car park, Fairhaven; Stanner Bank car park, Fairhaven; Rawstorne Sports Centre car park, Freckleton; Mill Lane car park, Kirkham; Lowther Gardens, Lytham; Station car park, Lytham; Newton Hall Park car park, School Lane, Newton; Staining Village Hall car park; Fairhaven Road car park, St Annes; North Beach car park, St Annes; Eagle and Child car park, Weeton; Fleetwood Road Playing Fields car park, Wesham and Wrea Green Institute car park.