Hundreds of thousands of trees will be planted across England after two major funding schemes reopened for applications today (Wednesday, February 8).
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Forestry Commission have said that over £14 million will be allocated to successful applicants across both funds: The Local Authority Treescapes Fund (LATF) and the Urban Tree Challenge Fund (UTCF).
The funding schemes aim to support tree planting efforts and contribute to government commitments to treble tree-planting rates across England by the end of this Parliament, planting 30,000ha of tress across the UK per year to meet net zero ambitions.
Forestry Minister Trudy Harrison said trees improve quality of life and are vital to the government’s ambition to reach net zero by 2050.
“This funding will continue to level up people’s access to nature, which we committed to doing in our recently published Environmental Improvement Plan,” she said.
“We want to see inspiring projects that plant more trees across England.”
Chief executive of the Forestry Commission, Richard Stanford, said: “The Urban Tree Challenge Fund and Local Authorities Treescapes Fund will help promote resilient treescapes in England, support tree planting efforts and improve the urban environment for future generations.
“It will see thousands of trees planted in socially deprived urban areas with limited numbers of trees.
“Research is clear that streets with trees in them leads to better wellbeing and health outcomes for residents as well as providing important biodiversity in our towns and cities.
“The same applies to green spaces in or close to towns and cities and we need more people to have access to quality woodlands and green spaces.”
Local Authority Treescapes Fund
Round 3 of LATF will see local authorities drive an increase in non-woodland tree planting across English landscapes. Community engagement is encouraged and local authorities are urged to bring together residents, schools and environmental groups to restore trees in areas outside woodlands.
Defra and the Forestry Commission said they are particularly valuable trees to society as they can provide the greatest levels of ecosystem services, including wellbeing benefits and connectivity to support biodiversity.
This round of LATF welcomes individual applications from borough, district and city councils, as well as county councils, unitary and metropolitan boroughs.
Previously, these authorities needs to form groups with each other or county councils in order to apply. The aim of this change is to open the fund up to more local authorities.
This fund will be open year-round in response to feedback on the challenges of meeting application windows previously.
The Forestry Commission said it still strongly encourages applications during the spring/early summer so successful applicants an start their planting this year.
Funding will be allocated to successful applicants on a first-come-first-served basis.
Urban Tree Challenge Fund
Round 5 of the UTCF aims to level up access to nature across the country, planting trees in socially deprived urban areas with low canopy cover and in proximity to healthcare and educational facilities.
“Trees make over towns and cities healthier and more pleasant places to be, helping to moderate temperatures, reduce pollution, decrease flood risk and improve people’s quality of life,” Defra and the Forestry Commission said.
The UTCF aims to support the planting of large standards trees and street trees. The fund will provide 80% funding of standards costs for planting large trees and their establishment costs for three years following planting, compared with 50% of standards costs in previous rounds.
UTCF, like LATF, will be open year-round in response to feedback on the challenges of meeting application windows previously.
The Forestry Commission said it still strongly encourages applications during the spring/early summer so successful applicants an start their planting this year.
Funding will be allocated to successful applicants on a first-come-first-served basis.
