EAST Hampshire District Council chose the home of the district’s famous ecologist Gilbert White to launch a programme to plant a tree for every resident in its patch.

The council plans to plant 120,000 trees across the district during the next four years as part of its commitment to battling climate change and reducing its own impact on the environment.

The first tree was planted at Gilbert White and The Oates Collections in Selborne.

Gilbert White is regarded as the founder of the theory of ecology and the tree, planted by council leader Cllr Richard Millard, is close to a great oak planted by Gilbert White as a ten-year-old in 1730.