THOUSANDS of pounds could be spent on planting and caring for trees across the borough if plans get the green light by councillors.

Council chiefs are planning to spend £10,000 to invest in tree planting by improving tree cover in parks and open spaces.

The money will also be spent on replacing trees that have previously been felled due to their poor condition.

Bosses are also planning to spend £100,000 to increase maintenance work on trees.

The move follows pleas from residents for more inspections and work on green spaces in the borough. The funding would also be used to improve the overall condition of the council’s own tree stock on highways and across parks and open spaces.

Councillor Karen Shakespeare, cabinet member for environmental, highways and street services said: "This investment will allow us to maintain our current stock, but also plant for the future so that we continue to make Dudley one of the greenest borough’s in the Black Country.

"Dudley borough’s green spaces make up 30 per cent of the borough’s surface area and there are 1,300 hectares of publicly accessible green space. In addition to thousands of small areas of open space, Dudley has 59 parks and 28 of these are community parks are located within a 15 minute walk of the people who live in the borough."

The funding proposals will be discussed by Dudley Council's cabinet later this month before being put before full council in March.