Mayor's freesheet axed in favour of trees

The Londoner, the Mayor's free newspaper, is to be scrapped and some of the money saved used to plant 10,000 trees across the capital, Boris Johnson announced today.

He unveiled the move as a delivery on two more of his election promises - making London greener and cutting the Mayor's publicity budget - adding that the street trees will improve residential areas. The planting programme will be directed at deprived neighbourhoods.

Mr Johnson's staff claim that Londoners would have spent around £2.9 million on The Londoner this year if Ken Livingstone had been re-elected.

But by using some of the money saved from the Mayor's personal newspaper - about £1 million per year - London's most deprived areas should see the extra 10,000 trees by 2012.

Mr Johnson said: "There was little commitment of resources from Ken Livingstone to reverse the trend of decline in the number of street trees.

"I am taking immediate action to reverse this short-sighted decision. In the last few years a third of boroughs have seen a decline in the number of street trees. Many London streets, particularly in deprived areas, have no street trees at all.

"So today I have taken the decision to cut unnecessary funding of the Mayor's personal publicity budget to plant 10,000 street trees by the end of my first term."

The Londoner, distributed to three million homes across London, was described by critics as "propaganda".

Mr Johnson announced the scheme at a tree planting scheme in Brixton. He was joined by the chief executive of Trees for Cities, Graham Simmonds.

The Mayor planted a tree and also presented local primary school children with badges to mark their involvement in this local project. He has said he will work in partnership with charities such as Trees for Cities and the London boroughs to deliver his pledge.