A bequest to Friends of Lewes to fund the planting of trees encouraged the late Paul Millmore, a Friends of Lewes Trustee, to conceive the idea of creating a Lewes Urban Arboretum, consisting of existing tree stock in the town along with additional plantings, integrated by means of a walking guide and narrative and perhaps other, interactive, interpretive materials. After Paul Millmore died we received a second bequest from his will to fund tree maintenance and early years’ care, and a donation in his memory from Brighton and Hove Friends of the Earth.
The Friends of Lewes re-formed its Trees Committee in 2012 to take the Lewes Urban Arboretum project forward, and developed this vision. It consults with residents and landowners across Lewes to identify possible places to plant new trees or replace existing ones to restore or improve the overall streetscape and environment. It monitors, and responds to, all planning applications which include tree works.
Since 2014 we have successfully planted 326 mature street trees in Lewes and we have plans for several more.
Click on the box [ ], top right corner of the map image, to see the full up to date version
Identifying significant trees and gaps in the treescape of Lewes
The 2019 summary results of our detailed i-Tree Eco Survey, which identifies the ecosystem values of the trees in Lewes are available on this page: More about our i-Tree Eco Survey, and 2019 summary report. This Eco Survey expands on the initial tree survey in 2012 by David Saunders, a past member of our Trees Committee, which was partially funded by a grant from South Downs National Park Authority. His survey report documented the existing significant stock of trees in the town and recommended potential planting sites and species. To update the 2012 map, members of the Trees Committee have begun an inventory of all the different species that we can find. This builds on the information we collected towards our ArbNet accreditation as an Arboretum Town, when one of the criteria contributing to the award was the number of different species of trees we have planted and labelled in Lewes,
The trees are all in public spaces or visible in front gardens. Do get in touch if you know of any other species!
This map shows the location of at least one tree of each species that we have recorded, so far:
Click on the box [ ], top right corner of the map image, to see the full up to date version
Lewes Town Council approves a Tree Charter for Lewes!
Since May 2026, the Trees Committee of Friends of Lewes, (Lewes Urban Arboretum Project), have been working with the Railway Land Wildlife Trust, the Environmental Justice Law Clinic, (University of Sussex), and the Environmental Law Foundation to propose a Tree Charter for Lewes.
With representatives from Lewes Town Council and Lewes Climate Hub, the Town Ranger and the SDNP Biodiversity Officer we formed the Rights of our Trees group, (ROOTs), with the primary aim of gaining full approval from Lewes Town Council for a Tree Charter for Lewes that protects the rights of our trees in our Arboretum Town.
We were guided by the Rights of our Trees, Woodlands and Forests Toolkit developed by Dr Joanna Miller Smallwood and her students at the Environmental Justice Law Clinic, (University of Sussex). The inspiration for this project came from attending a marvellous “Voices of the Wild” conference organised by Helen Meade and the Railway Land Wildlife Trust team in April 2026.
Councillor Dinah Morgan proposed the motion to adopt the Tree Charter at the meeting of full council on 10th September 2026, where it met with unanimous approval.
With the support of Lewes Town Council, the ROOTs team will continue to meet to implement the proposals that will champion the Rights of our Trees.
You can find out more about the Tree Charter, the motion to Lewes Town Council, and the rights of Trees toolkit here: The Tree Charter for Lewes.
