A NUMBER of trees will be planted in Wrose on Wednesday - part of a 'thinking outside the box' scheme to get more people to switch to direct debit Council Tax payments.

Earlier this year Bradford Council pledged to plant a tree for every household who switched to direct debit for their Council Tax payments, and over 4,500 households signed up before the deadline of the end of March.

It means over 4,500 new trees will now be planted across the district.

It was an attempt to reduce the amount of paper used by the authority, as well as boost the local environment.

Council staff will be planting some of the trees at Dennison Wood in Wrose to help establish a new woodland area planted a few years ago.

The woodland is named after Arthur Dennison, the first soldier from Wrose to die in the First World War. Private Dennison was a wool sorter who lived on Westfield Lane and was killed in the Battle of Hill 60, in spring 1915 near Ypres. He was 36 when he was killed in action and left three children, the youngest only a few months old.

Tree to be planted for every Bradford child in push to make district a greener place

This event also forms part of a programme of tree planting events taking place across the district for National Tree Planting Week.

Martin Stubbs, Assistant Director for Revenues & Benefits, said: “We’re so pleased that our tree-planting campaign has been such a success. As well as saving the council precious funds in the long run, we’re giving a helping hand towards the future of our environment.”

Although the campaign is now over, any households still wanting to ‘do their bit’ can still sign up to pay by Direct Debit, as well as to get their Council Tax bill by email, or by visiting www.bradford.gov.uk/directdebit

The Council has also pledged to plant a tree for every primary school child in the district (approximately 55,000); revealed plans for a district heat network to cut carbon and energy costs in city centre buildings and agreed to switch to more electric vehicles in the council’s fleet.