The urban orchard cooling London during heatwaves

Turn off the busy, hectic, Cable Street in Tower Hamlets, walk through the estate, turn a corner and you are suddenly in the middle of lots and lots of fruit trees.

This is an orchard of fifty trees of apples, quinces, plums, pears, cherries and crab apples, and it is right in the middle of St George's estate.

It was planted in 2013 by the charity Trees for Cities.

Jim Ford, who lives in the nearby tower block, remembers seeing the trees being planted. Soon he was involved in watering them and became one of a very small number of people who look after the orchards.

"It's very popular, especially when the fruit comes out - it's even more popular then," he said.

"We don't actually get to see a lot of the fruit. We love the fact it's an open space, a community space. We get people from outside who see there's some fruit, they'll take the fruit. It's fine, that's what it's there for to be eaten. "

"The trees cool the area. Just walk around here and it's a much cooler area than Cable Street or the Highway. In this environment you wouldn't know it's there."

London's warming and its trees and their shade help cool the climate although the heatwaves themselves can put native species under stress.

Harrow Council has also warned people not to sit or congregate under large trees after a rise in the number of falling branches.

It says there has been an increase of Sudden Branch Drop Syndrome which it says has been made worse by the heatwaves.

Experts at the charity Trees for Cities are expecting to see an increase in trees dying or dropping branches as the climate warms.

Sir Sadiq Khan plans to increase London's canopy by 10% by 2050.

The orchard scheme is seen as a blueprint with other estates now copying the idea.

Emma Peet from the charity Trees for Cities said planting in inner London was particularly important.

"London does have eight million trees but they are not distributed evenly across the city," she said.

"Tower Hamlets where we are now has only about 8 to 10% canopy coverage but because of this orchard in this estate, it has risen to 19% tree cover.

"Making urban forests more equitable and more accessible for communities is all part of it."

She added: "Urban forests bring so many benefits from shade on a hot day, biodiversity and the air feels cleaner. It also is an important communal space."

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