THE Helensburgh Tree Conservation Trust has received a substantial financial boost after being selected as the recipient of the 5p bag levy charge.

Staff from Waitrose presented representatives of the Trust with a cheque for £19,388 recently which will help them to achieve the objectives set out in their 2017-2026 management plan.

Iain Duncan, chairman of the Helensburgh Tree Conservation Trust, explained that the money would help to strengthen their ties and work with communities, to sustainably manage the existing population of approximately 1881 street trees, to replace over-aged or dead trees, expand their planting programme into new areas, introduce new ornamental tree species in collaboration with the National Tree Collections of Scotland and expand their network with other non-profit organisations, research institutions and schools.

Iain told the Advertiser: "The sum involved would normally take us four or five years to raise so is a fantastic boost.

"Apart from ensuring we can carry out an annual planting programme for the next four or five years, it will enable us to employ professionals to fell dead trees and remove stumps to create more planting spaces.

"In addition we can now look at solving some of our computer software/GIS issues for maintaining an up-to-date record of the tree stock."