Trees to be planted in 100 streets in Bow and Poplar

More than 1,000 trees are set to be planted in Tower Hamlets streets in a £1.3million bid to improve air quality.

By April, the council says it will have planted 5,000 new trees in two years. Most have been placed in the borough's parks and the town hall is now focusing on making the streets more green, it said.

The latest planting push will be in Bow and Poplar where 350 trees will be planted along 100 different streets.

A minimum of 700 street trees are planned for Bethnal Green, Wapping, Stepney Green and the Isle of Dogs over the next two years.

Mayor John Biggs said: "We are committed to delivering a cleaner and greener borough. While Tower Hamlets is an inner London borough it boasts magnificent green open spaces. We're now also putting an emphasis on introducing more street trees and I've pledged that the council will plant 1,000 across the borough which will make a real difference to our residential neighbourhoods."

The estimated cost of the project is £1.32m. Earlier this month the council received £316,779 from the Mayor of London's Urban Tree Challenge Fund, which will pay for the planting of 557 trees.

Cllr Rachel Blake said: "It was great to see our tree planting project in Bow taking shape and to see for myself the hard work our officers are doing to deliver on our ambitious planting pledges. Planting trees directly improves air quality."