Thirteen projects in urban communities across England have been awarded a share of the £10m in the first round of the Urban Tree Challenge Fund.
Across the country over 22,000 large trees and 28,000 small trees will be planted in urban areas, from Thanet to Middlesbrough, and Merseyside to Bristol. These will help areas improve health and wellbeing, as well as playing a crucial role in the fight against climate change, supporting the UK’s journey to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The government has committed to planting 30,000 hectares of trees a year across the UK by 2025, and the fund is helping increase canopy cover in and around our towns and cities where they bring a wide range of benefits.
Launched in May 2019, the £10 million scheme will see 130,000 trees planted across England’s towns and cities by 2021.
The Urban Tree Challenge Fund is made up of two parts. In year one, the fund was open for block bids from local authorities or larger organisations, and bidding closed on 31 August 2019. In year two, the fund will reopen for applications from individual tree planters, commencing in spring 2020.
The successful applicants were:
o Green Street Community Planting (Bristol and North Somerset)
o Plymouth City Council
o Cornwall Council
o Middlesbrough 10,000 trees
o Tree-ing Urban Northumberland
o Slough Borough Council – TEC Urban Forest
o London Street Trees
o Thanet Community Forest School CIO
o Space for Trees (Durham)
o Urban Trees in The Mersey Forest
o Trees for Cities (London and across England)
o City of Trees (Greater Manchester), and
o Luton Borough Council
Round 2 of the Urban Tree Challenge Fund, which is for smaller, localised projects, is currently open to applications with a deadline of Sunday 31 May 2020.
Further details can be found at this LINK.
