Demand for Derbyshire company’s Christmas trees soars

A Derbyshire company which rents out the UK’s only solar-powered civic Christmas trees says it expects to run out of stock by the end of this month because of high demand.

Plantscape says that due unprecedented levels of interest in the eco-friendly products, it expects to have none left within a matter of weeks, despite more than doubling its stock of the trees this year.

The trees were introduced to offer councils a way of decorating their streets for Christmas without incurring the cost of erecting wires and electricity.

Last year the Ashbourne-based company ran out of both varieties of trees in the run up to Christmas and so invested thousands of pounds in more stock during the summer.

However, it has only 400 left of its 2,000-strong stock of bracket-mounted trees – which are supplied in half units, one either side of a lamppost to form a whole “tree” – while just 300 of its hanging trees remain.

So far, orders have come in from all over the country, including Chorleywood in Hertfordshire, Langley Mill in Derbyshire, Featherstone in West Yorkshire and Fife in Scotland.

Mark Stone, managing director of Plantscape, said: “This will be the tenth year that we have supplied our solar-powered trees and the tenth year running that we have had to considerably increase our stock to meet demand.

“The interest in the trees has been incredible. We got our first order way back in January but now that autumn is well and truly underway we are receiving orders from existing and new customers on a daily basis.”

Plantscape made history when it originally launched its solar-powered Christmas trees in 2007. They are the only product of their type on the market.