Location: North Lanarkshire

Tree Canopy Cover: 10.2%

Target across City Region: 20%

Bellshill

Bellshill is a town built on coal and iron, and now a growing modern town of almost 20,000 people. It was selected as a target neighbourhood because of the low level of canopy cover at an estimated 10.2%. The combination of low canopy cover and data on deprivation from the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation indicates that these areas would be most at risk from climate events that can be mitigated by increasing canopy cover.

With Bellshill also lacking in good green infrastructure, new trees and woodland will help mitigate climate events and bring benefits to people and wildlife. It is the ambition of the Clyde Climate Forest project is to increase the urban canopy across the whole of Glasgow City Region to 20%.

Across Bellshill, a total of 61 standards (large trees) and 2280 whips (small trees) have been planted in Bellshill to date. Full details can be found below.

Work to date

At the beginning of 2023, 37 standard trees and 400 small trees were planted across the Hattonrigg area of Bellshill to increase the urban tree canopy cover.

An additional 750 whips and 10 standard trees were planted at Rockburn Park by Trees for Cities volunteers, NL Community and Learning Development, Ahmaddiya Muslim Women's Association and Noble Primary School, then bolstered by a further 200 whips and 4 standards.

In the 2025/2026 season, a further 930 whips were planted, with 530 of them planted by CCF Tree Wardens, the local community and the CCF Team and 400 trees planted by Phoenix Futures Scotland. All these trees were in and around an area of Shirrel Park and Shirrel Burn that runs along a riparian woodland stretch which we have expanded.

1000 Trees Campaign

Our ‘1000 trees’ campaign has focussed on delivering neighbourhood level trees where they are most needed. Initially the project has concentrated planting in and around the streets and greenspaces adjacent Noble and St Gerard’s Primary Schools to the north of the town centre.

In Bellshill, we have smashed our '1000 trees' goal by planting 2280 whips and 61 standards. These trees will have a positive impact on the urban environment by providing a cooling effect in heatwaves, carbon storage, surface water management, and a place for wildlife.

Our Sponsors for Bellshill

We are keen to develop business support for our local projects. Businesses who have helped this project through donations and / or tree planting will be shown here. If you'd like to sponsor this project contact business@clydeclimateforest.co.uk

How you can help our Bellshill project

Do you live in this area?

If you live in the area shown, please let us know where you’d like to see trees planted.

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Are you a local business?

If you are a local business, perhaps you’d like to sponsor some trees.

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Do you own or manage land here?

If you own or manage land in the area shown, you could pledge land for tree planting.

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Could trees be planted in areas of mown grass like these?

Our Project Partners

We are developing this project with North Lanarkshire Council, Trees for Cities, TCV, and Green Action Trust. The project is supported by the Woodland Trust’s Emergency Tree Fund and Scottish Forestry.

Our Sponsors for Bellshill

We are keen to develop business support for our local projects. The following business have helped this project through donation and / or tree planting.