Second round of Urban Tree Challenge Fund opens

The Forestry Commission has opened the second round of the Urban Tree Challenge Fund, to help increase tree numbers in urban areas through small scale planting projects.

Open for community and volunteer groups, town councils and individuals to apply for, the £10 million pot aims to support the planting of more than 130,000 trees across England’s towns and cities. In the first round, 13 large scale projects from local authorities and large organisations awarded grants to plant more than 50,000 trees in urban areas.

Planting more trees improves health and wellbeing, connects people with the outdoors, absorbs noise, reduces flood risk, cools temperatures through shading, and creates green spaces to help communities come together.

Forestry Minister Lord Goldsmith, said: “Our immediate priority is rightly our response to the challenges posed by the coronavirus. But, although these are unprecedented times, we want to continue to uphold the nation’s commitment to the environment.

“We have made sure that the applications for round two of the Urban Challenge Tree Fund can be completed online so individuals are not putting themselves at risk, and I encourage anyone thinking of applying to do so in a safe way, using digital platforms to plan their application with colleagues if necessary. Our manifesto sets our ambition to have every new street lined with trees – and I am dedicated to working closely with the Forestry Commission to help make this vision a reality.”