The Woodland Trust has awarded 11 local authorities £2.9m to plant trees and create green spaces.
The charity launched its new Emergency Tree Fund as part of a commitment to establish 50 million more trees by 2025. It warned that while many councils having ambitious tree planting targets, the financial impact of the pandemic has halted this work.
The money will be used to plant trees and create woodland to help with people’s health and wellbeing, soak up harmful carbon, combat pollution and create detailed tree strategies.
John Tucker, the Woodland Trust’s director of woodland outreach, said: 'Our overall goal is to be the architect of inspiring local authorities across the UK to help their residents become tree champions - and make trees a key part of their policies.
'We want to stimulate green activity and help them to become exemplars of green innovation and inspiration that can be applied in other local authority areas. And we would love to hear from any other local authority who want to be involved in future Emergency Tree Fund allocations.'
The councils that have secured funding are Belfast City Council, Black Country Consortium, Bolsover District Council, Cardiff Council, Cornwall Council, Devon County Council, Edinburgh Council, Glasgow City, Sheffield City Council, Wolverhampton Council and Wokingham Council.
