15/05/2023 - Permalink

Shropshire wins share of £2m funding to support Trees Outside of Woodland project

Related topics: Climate change / environment

Shropshire Council has won a share of a £2 million fund to increase the numbers of trees outside of woodlands and in the heart of communities.

The Government funding announced by Defra will be shared by projects investigating the best ways to boost tree numbers outside woodlands in areas including Shropshire, Chichester, Cornwall, Kent and Norfolk.

It is the second time Shropshire Council has been successful in gaining funds for the Trees Outside of Woodland project, having been granted £500,000 in 2020.

Ian Nellins, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for climate change, environment and transport, welcomed the announcement:-

“Trees outside of woodland are essential to our communities by storing carbon, regulating temperatures, strengthening flood resilience and reducing air pollution. Together, these help to mitigate against climate change, reduce impacts from floods and improve people’s health and wellbeing.

“We are delighted to have been awarded a share in the second round of funding for this already successful scheme. It will allow us to continue with our ambition to plant 350,000 trees in our county by 2050, and to further build on the work being carried out by the climate team at Shropshire Council.”

The second phase of the programme will fund projects testing the effectiveness of tree planting methods and approaches in non-woodland areas.

Research projects funded by the second phase, including Shropshire Council’s agroforestry scheme, will:

  • test how to sustainably improve the capacity and biosecurity of locally grown tree planting stock, to ensure more trees can be planted closer to where people live.
  • research the most cost-effective and biosecure ways to plant, establish, and promote trees outside woods, enabling increases in non-woodland tree canopy cover.
  • focus on sharing this knowledge with councils to enable enhanced local delivery of healthy and thriving treescapes.
  • help to increase tree cover within our local communities, and deliver on commitments set out within the Environmental Improvement Plan to level up people’s access to nature and improve our mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

The Trees Outside Woodland research and development programme is delivered in partnership by The Tree Council, Natural England, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, and five councils: Shropshire Council, Chichester District Council, Cornwall Council, Kent County Council and Norfolk County Council. The funding comes from the Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund.