Glasgow City Council is considering reforesting golf courses in a bid to plant more trees and make the city greener.
Earlier this month, one of the six ‘temporarily’ closed due to a lack of staff.
According to The Scotsman, a group of councillors has called for the courses to be turned into forests, wetlands or allotments if they shut.
About 17 per cent of Glasgow is currently trees and authorities want to see more, with planting planned at the former King’s Park Golf Club.
In a document under consideration, the council’s climate emergency working group said: “Depending on the outcome of the current public consultation into the future of Glasgow’s public golf courses, it may be that some of these underutilised sites are also repurposed for food growing, tree planting or as a carbon sink.”
Martha Wardrop, the working group’s chairwoman, stressed that even if the courses stayed open there was a lot that could be done to make the greens greener.
Councillor Anna Richardson, who leads on climate issues for the council, said: “Increasing our tree planting programme is an area where we believe quick progress can be made.
“But there is already a substantial amount of tree planting going on in the city that contributes to Glasgow’s positive record on carbon reduction.
“Last year, the council was involved in planting 7,000 trees as part of various initiatives in existing woodland, parks and play areas.
“Extensive tree planting is now also an intrinsic part of new housing developments in the city as developers seek to create the kind of environments that appeal to incoming householders.
“We are also targeting vacant and derelict land as places where planting can take place, especially where there is little prospect of development in the short or medium term.”
Just outside Glasgow, an old club at Fernbrae, near Castlemilk, has been transformed into a new urban park, complete with new woods and a natural wetland that serves as a crucial flood defence, adds the paper.
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