Calls for Sycamore Gap Sapling to be planted in Town Moor as part of community forest plans

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Newcastle’s Town Moor should become home to a sapling of the Sycamore Gap tree, it has been suggested.

The National Trust has launched a ‘Trees of Hope’ project which will see 49 saplings, one to represent each foot of the iconic tree at the time of its felling last year, gifted to communities across the country.

The Freemen of Newcastle and Newcastle City Council, who jointly manage the Town Moor, have now been urged to apply to receive one of the saplings as part of efforts to continue the beloved sycamore’s legacy in the region.

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Last week marked a year since the tree, one of the most recognisable symbols of Northumberland and the North East as a whole, was cut down.

Around 12,000 new trees are to be planted on the Town Moor, as part of efforts to increase its biodiversity and help Newcastle combat climate change. And bosses were told on Monday that a Sycamore Gap sapling could be a perfect addition to that collection.

Calling for an application to be made to the Trees of Hope scheme, Lib Dem councillor Philip Browne said at a meeting of the city’s Town Moor Joint Working Group: “I can think of no better place than the Town Moor for one of those saplings, in the city nearest to where the Sycamore Gap tree was.”

David Wilson, the chair of the Freemen, said he was “incredibly proud” of the tree-planting initiative being undertaken with the North East Community Forest.

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Of the Sycamore Gap suggestion, he replied: “We are happy to look at all of those opportunities and we will work with the North East Community Forest to look at all sorts of things.”

Mr Wilson also confirmed that the Freemen are exploring the possibility of some kind of large art installation being erected on the vast green space, which he hopes could draw national attention to the Town Moor.

He added: “We are trying to maximise the contribution that the Town Moor makes to the area and art is an area we have explored before. We hope it is the type of thing that could be of regional and potentially national interest.

“We don’t know what it might be or whether it will happen or not, but we are looking at how we can have something that we can be proud of.”

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