RESIDENTS and businesses are set to be invited to sponsor a tree when a 200-tree community orchard is planted as part of the extension to Wickford Memorial Park.

The decision to invite sponsorship for the fruit tree orchard on land previously leased to Beauchamps School was agreed by councillors at the Neighbourhoods and Public Spaces Committee on Wednesday, 20 January.

The community orchard will be part of a wider 26-acre extension to Wickford Memorial Park, after Beauchamps School no longer required the use of the site which had been leased to them as playing fields. The extension will become an area of high biodiversity to expand on the pollinator work currently being undertaken throughout the borough.

Chairman of the Neighbourhoods and Public Spaces Committee Councillor David Harrison, said: "This will be an exciting opportunity for Wickford businesses and residents to take community ownership of something within Wickford Memorial Park and for us all to build a beautiful community orchard together. This will be a real asset to the local community and one that we can all witness grow, providing a legacy for our town.

"The 26-acre extension is fantastic news for the people of Wickford and the wider borough, this element to the extension sums up exactly what we want the whole space to be; a place for people to come together, connect with others and give back to the local community."

The scheme is currently being finalised, and details of how residents and businesses can sponsor a tree will be published in due course.