A SCHEME to plant a tree for every new born baby in Southend has been wholeheartedly backed by councillors and will include stillborn babies.

At a full council meeting on Thursday there was cross-party support for the motion put forward by Conservative councillors Dan Nelson and Alan Dear to offer to plant tree for every childbirth registered at Southend Council and to everyone achieving British citizenship.

An amendment to honour stillborn babies in the same way was readily accepted.

Parents would be informed where their child’s tree had been planted and in the case of stillborns it could be a poignant memorial for bereaved parents.

Presenting the motion, Mr Dear, Conservative councillor for Belfairs Ward, said: “Councillor Nelson and myself have received a large number of emails supporting this motion. One in particular asked us to consider adding stillborn baby births to this list of trees to be planted. I request this to be taken into consideration as part of this motion.”

After the motion was agreed, Mr Dear added: “I’m very pleased this motion has been passed in its amended form. I believe it will be a great benefit to families with new born babies in the city and give them some connection to their city.”

The scheme will now be considered by cabinet, but looks likely to receive backing after the overwhelming support from councillors across the political spectrum. James Moyies, Conservative councillor for West Shoebury, said: “I welcome the discussion we’ve had cross party to put this through. The leader has already said he will take stillbirths into discussions.”

The motion also highlighted the environmental benefit that new trees would have on the city, as well as improving the street scene and appearance of Southend’s open spaces.

It said: “Trees have a variety of positive impacts on our city.

“They can lower the temperature of city streets during extreme heat, increase flood defence, enable good mental health, reduce our carbon footprint, and of course improve the street scene of our city.

“However, for many years the city appears to have lost more trees than it has been able to plant and the “two for one” policy has historically been difficult to implement. This has meant that residents often feel that trees are not being replaced.”