Funding schemes aimed at encouraging the planting of hundreds of thousands of trees across England have reopened.
More than £14million will be allocated to successful applicants across the funds, which will support tree planting efforts and contribute to Government commitments to treble tree-planting rates across England by the end of this Parliament.
The scheme hopes to see 30,000 hectares of land planted with trees to meet net zero ambitions.

Round 3 of the Local Authority Treescapes Fund will see local authorities drive an increase in non-woodland tree planting.
Local authorities are encouraged to bring together residents, schools and environmental groups to restore trees in areas outside woodlands, where treescapes are often highly degraded due to neglect or disease.
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.
Meanwhile, Round 5 of the Urban Tree Challenge Fund aims to level up access to nature across the country, planting trees in socially-deprived urban areas with low canopy cover, in proximity to healthcare and educational facilities.
The Fund supports planting of large ‘standard’ trees and street trees.

Forestry minister Trudy Harrison said: “Trees improve people’s quality of lives and are vital to our 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. We want to see inspiring projects that plant more trees across England.”
Differences between the Local Authority Treescapes Fund and the Urban Tree Challenge Fund include:
• The Urban Tree Challenge Fund specifically funds projects planting new, large ‘standard’ trees, whilst Local Authority Treescapes Fund projects can plant trees of any size – although ‘standard’ trees in urban areas can only be planted where they are replacing trees that have been lost, for example due to disease.
• While both funds support tree planting in urban areas, the Local Authority Treescapes Fund also supports the planting of trees outside of woodlands in rural areas.
• All projects supported through the Local Authority Treescapes Fund must be led by a local authority. The Urban Tree Challenge Fund is also open to projects led by charities, community groups and other organisations.

For more information and to apply, go to www.gov.uk/guidance/local-authority-treescapes-fund and www.gov.uk/guidance/urban-tree-challenge-fund.