‘Adopt a Tree Pit’ is back and you can get your whole street involved!
Published: 07 November 2025
‘Adopt a Tree Pit’ is back and you can get your whole street involved!
Redbridge’s locally loved ‘Adopt a Tree Pit’ initiative is back, with opportunities to ‘adopt’ a whole street of tree pits to create thriving little mini-gardens for local wildlife.
Applications for Adopt a Tree Pit 2026 are now open, alongside year-round applications to become a Pollinator Pathway, for which neighbours can team up to adopt a whole street of tree pits.
Both green schemes are part of the Council’s community gardening initiative giving local people the chance to brighten up their street, and boost biodiversity in Redbridge.
Tree pits are the soil area at the base of trees, which are perfect for planting. Through ‘Adopt a Tree Pit’ you can apply to take care of your very own individual tree pit, or you can team up with your neighbours to apply under the Pollinator Pathway Scheme to adopt all the tree pits on your street, along with any other nearby plant growth areas, to become a Pollinator Pathway road.
A Pollinator Pathway is a corridor of pesticide free plants that connect different areas of habitat, encouraging pollinators such as bees to travel between them to access the food and shelter that they need.
This year, over 300 local people took part, adopting 631 tree pits, and thanks to the Pollinator Pathway scheme there are also currently 12 Pollinator Pathways streets covering a length of 4414m, in the borough – both initiatives boosting local biodiversity and helping Redbridge’s streets bloom.
The boroughwide initiative is also a fun and interactive way to bring neighbours together to make streets more attractive and colourful, as well as help take care of and have pride in their neighbourhood.
Vanya Marks, from Wanstead, teamed up with her neighbours to become a Pollinator Pathway and said taking part in the scheme has been ‘very rewarding’.
She continued, “ Not only have I got to meet neighbours that I might not otherwise have got to know, but also the change in the look of the street has been noticeable. We have many more pretty wildflowers now in our adopted tree pits. The knock-on effects are incredible too as someone on the road managed to film a mother hedgehog and her baby in one of the front gardens this summer. I have also seen a little muntjac deer on two occasions in the trees at the back of Woodcote Road. I don't know if this is due to the pollinator pathway specifically, but all of these measures help the local wildlife enormously.”
Helen from Woodford Green also took part in Adopt a Tree Pit last year with her neighbours which eventually turned into the street becoming a Pollinator Pathway.
Helen said: “Through conversation with neighbours, we adopted lots of tree pits together and have become a pollinator pathway. We arranged to all put the seeds in our tree pits together and it was a fun community morning with all the kids involved and lots of fun and laughter. Walking past the tree pits always brings a smile to our faces and we have got to know neighbours we didn’t know as well. It’s something positive you can do for the world close to home and strengthen our bonds of community.”
Applications to ‘Adopt a Tree Pit’ must be made by midnight Sunday 4 January 2026. For more details or to apply visit: https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/our-streets/adopt-a-tree-pit-and-pollinator-pathways/
If you applied to adopt a tree pit last year you will have to re-apply again this year as all adoptions last for 12 months only.
Applications to become a ‘Pollinator Pathway’ are open all year round, enabling local people to team up with their neighbours throughout the year. For more information or to apply go to: https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/our-streets/adopt-a-tree-pit-and-pollinator-pathways/
Streets that become Pollinator Pathways will be removed from the Council’s chemical weed control spraying schedule to help create a pesticide-free corridor of pollinator friendly plants. Local people taking part in the scheme will be required to manually control plant growth on their street. Redbridge Council’s Neighbourhood Team will support with advice and information on acceptable levels of plant growth and pesticide free weed removal.
Redbridge Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability, Cllr Jo Blackman, said: “It’s brilliant to see so many of our local communities join our Pollinator Pathway and Adopt a Tree Pit schemes each year. By getting involved, you can support local wildlife, and help create environments where bees, butterflies and other pollinators can thrive in our borough, so please do get your application in.”
Local people can also get involved in looking after newly planted trees on their street by unofficially adopting them. New trees are planted in the borough between November and March, with a blue label attached asking for help with watering in the summer months when they may need an extra drink. For more information go to: https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/our-streets/adopt-and-water-a-tree/
