Building Healthier Communities: The Case for Investing in Public Health
Explore how targeted, community-based public health strategies can improve lives, reduce NHS pressure, and deliver cost savings for local authorities.
Brighton and Hove takes steps to combat elm disease
28/04/2025 Brighton and Hove City Council is set to launch its annual inoculation programme to protect thousands of historic trees from elm disease. |
Enfield threatens legal action over ancient oak felling
17/04/2025 Enfield Council has threatened the Toby Carvery pub chain with legal action after the felling of a 500-year-old oak tree. |
Council issues order to protect remains of ancient oak
16/04/2025 Enfield Council has issued an emergency preservation order to protect what remains of a 500-year-old oak tree that was partially felled by a pub chain. |
Council gives away 30,000 trees in a day
02/12/2024 Leicestershire County Council gave away 30,400 trees in a day last week as part of plans to boost planting. |
UK-first tool developed by Bluesky scores areas green credentials to aid urban planners
29/11/2024 A new tool which allows urban planners to assess tree coverage and access to green space based on a new rule has been developed by Bluesky International. |
Council fined £500k after dog walker death
11/11/2024 Cheshire East Council has been fined £500,000 after admitting breaches of health and safety legislation that led to a dog walker's death. |
Council buys land to plant 25,000 trees
06/08/2024 A Devon council has bought 65 acres of land to develop a ‘community woodland’. |
PM promises to limit council tree felling
29/11/2023 Residents will have to be consulted before local authorities remove trees in their areas, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced. |
Greening Up: why, where and how
03/10/2023 Nicholas Boys Smith, director of Create Streets, sets out how local councils can improve the level of urban greenery and why they should. |
Council defends presence of dead Christmas tree
02/06/2023 A Christmas tree in the market town Beverley remains standing in June because a family of birds have made it their home, according to the town council. |
Leicestershire hits 250,000 tree planting milestone
02/06/2023 An environment plan in Leicestershire has reached a milestone with 250,000 trees now planted throughout the county. |
Ancient King Charles oak faces the chop
05/05/2023 Tensions are brewing as Berkshire residents push back against plans to fell a 700-year-old oak tree used to spy on King Charles I's army during the Civil War. |
Campaigners resist plans to cut down trees for ‘eco homes’
11/04/2023 Residents of historic Bournville village in Birmingham have called on their local councillor to intervene over a plan to cut down trees and build ‘eco homes’. |
Council leader to resign over night-time tree felling
23/03/2023 Plymouth City Council leader Richard Bingley intends to resign from his position next week, according to the ruling Conservative group. |
Cost of protecting Haringey tree rises to £1m
21/03/2023 Keeping a tree at the centre of protests by local campaigners standing would cost £1m, Haringey Council has warned. |
Plymouth council contractors forced to stop tree felling
16/03/2023 Contractors working for Plymouth City Council cut down 110 trees at night before an injunction forced them to stop work. |
Sheffield approach to tree felling utterly condemned
07/03/2023 A report into the Sheffield street trees scandal has laid the blame firmly at the door of the former leadership of the council. |
Tree schemes need help, say campaigners
03/01/2023 Council tree planting schemes need help with maintenance costs says The Woodland Trust after reports of the loss of many trees planted in recent years. |
Council faces prosecution following death of 6-year-old Ella Henderson
16/11/2022 Newcastle City Council will be prosecuted following the death of six-year-old Ella Henderson, who was hit by a falling tree at school. |
Council awarded £68,000 after illegal tree felling
15/09/2022 Eastleigh Borough Council has secured its largest ever fine and costs totalling over £68,000 after a local landowner cut down some trees. |
Funding allocated to expand woodlands across England
05/08/2022 The Government has announced £44.2m funding will help plant millions of trees across England. |
Regenerating public realm for climate change
29/07/2022 The regeneration of White Hart Lane in Tottenham, London has shown has permeable paving and street trees should can help address climate change while delivering SuDS. Chris Hodson reports. |
Local authorities urged to bid for £8m fund to accelerate tree planting
17/06/2022 Up to 50 local authorities will share £7.8m to train and employ new staff to drive forward tree planting and woodland creation. |
Council uses tree planting to encourage council tax e-billing
15/02/2022 Shropshire residents can now support tree planting efforts by opting to receive their council tax bills electronically, the local council has said. |
Woodlands save £185m in mental health costs
06/12/2021 Visits to the UK’s woodlands boosts mental health and is estimated to save £185m in treatment costs annually, a new report has found. |
Funding allocated to plant hundreds of thousands of trees
29/11/2021 Over £12m funding has been allocated to plant hundreds of thousands of trees across England. |
Councils urged to bid for new £6m woodland fund
01/11/2021 Local authorities are being urged to bid for a new £6m fund to create new woodland and improve access to nature. |
Meeting new planning requirements for trees
07/09/2021 Concrete block permeable paving offers an important opportunity to help satisfy the requirement for extensive tree planting and retention of existing trees in developments. Chris Hodson reports. |
Councils in north east band together to plant 500 hectares of trees
21/07/2021 Six local authorities in the north east have joined forces with environmental organisations to plant a new forest. |
Trees: The critical role of local authorities to protect and expand the urban forest
09/07/2021 Sue James explains how local authorities can ensure trees on both public and private land are protected and that urban canopy cover is increased where needed. |
New community forest for Plymouth and South Devon
23/06/2021 The first of at least three new community forests will be created in Plymouth and South Devon, the Government has confirmed. |
Urban Tree Fund re-opens for third phase
13/05/2021 The Urban Tree Challenge Fund has re-opened for applications to enable 44,000 large trees to be planted in towns and cities. |
Councils secure £2.9m emergency tree fund
11/03/2021 The Woodland Trust has awarded 11 local authorities £2.9m to plant trees and create green spaces. |
Blossoming tree circles to be planted across UK
26/02/2021 Blossoming tree circles will be planted in cities across England, Wales and Northern Ireland over the next five years, as part of a new project to signal 'reflection and hope'. |
Government announces nearly £4m tree planting pot
07/12/2020 The Government has announced £3.9m of funding to help plant hundreds of thousands of new trees across the country. |
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Sheffield council apologises for ‘numerous problems’ with tree felling scheme
15/10/2020 Sheffield City Council has issued an apology after a report from the local government Ombudsman found ‘numerous problems’ with the way it removed trees in 2016. |
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Council fined after fatal tree branch accident
21/07/2020 Wirral Borough Council has been fined £100,000 after a pregnant woman lost her baby when a tree branch fell and hit her moving vehicle. |
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Government launches consultation on accelerating tree planting
19/06/2020 The Government has launched a consultation on ways to accelerate tree planting in an effort to combat the biodiversity and climate crises. |
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Councils call for more ambition on tree cover target
21/04/2020 Six councils have called on the Government to double the tree cover target in England. |
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Councils urged to bid for second round of £10m urban tree fund
31/03/2020 The second round of the £10m Urban Tree Challenge fund has opened for bids today. |
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Sheffield approves new approach to managing street trees
12/03/2020 A new partnership to manage its street trees has been approved by Sheffield City Council, following protests last year about its tree felling programme. |
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Over 50,000 trees to be planted in urban areas
10/02/2020 More than 50,000 trees are to be planted in urban communities following the allocation of the first round of the Urban Tree Challenge Fund. |
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Edinburgh council announces aim to be a ‘million tree city’
29/01/2020 Edinburgh City Council has announced that it is working on an ‘action plan’ aimed at increasing the number of trees in the city to one million. |
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Homeowner fined over £60,00 for ‘wilful damage’ to a protected tree
24/12/2019 A homeowner who damaged a 90-year-old tree so much that it had to be felled has been fined over £60,000 by magistrates. |
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Cornwall Council launches tree planting drive
18/12/2019 Cornwall Council’s flagship climate emergency project the Forest for Cornwall will be officially launched next week at a community planting day in Saltash. |
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Council accidentally cuts down 800 young trees
20/11/2019 Reading Borough Council has apologised to community volunteers after accidentally digging up hundreds of newly planted saplings. |
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Manchester CC joins campaign to plant 50 million trees
09/10/2019 Manchester City Council has thrown its weight behind a campaign to encourage the Government to support the planting of a large forest in the North of England. |
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Councils flout ancient woodland protections, campaigners say
01/08/2019 One year on from strengthened protection for ancient woodland in England, local planners are still 'failing to safeguard' the habitat, the Woodland Trust has claimed. |
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Online tool to calculate health impact of trees published
11/07/2019 A new online tool which can help councils calculate how much pollution would be removed by planting trees in local areas has been launched. |
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Ash tree disease poses public safety risk in Wales, council chiefs say
01/07/2019 Local authorities have committed themselves to tackling a notorious ash tree disease that has spread across Wales. |
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Fund launched to plant 130,000 urban trees
20/05/2019 The environment secretary Michael Gove has announced a £10m fund to help encourage the planting of over a hundred thousand trees in urban areas across England. |
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Tree disease to cost economy £15bn
07/05/2019 Ash dieback will cost the UK economy £15bn, researchers have calculated. |
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Sheffield CC compromises over controversial tree felling plans
14/12/2018 Sheffield CC has acknowledged the need for a new phased approach to street tree replacement as a result of the ongoing controversy over tree felling. |
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Sheffield CC tables proposal to end tree felling dispute
25/10/2018 Sheffield City Council has tabled a proposal to save 300 trees and ‘phase the work on others’ in an effort to end the long running dispute over tree felling. |
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London boroughs receive 40,000 new trees for parks and community spaces
16/08/2018 The mayor of London has launched a £1.5 woodland fund to help 21 boroughs plant new trees in parks, estates, playgrounds and other community spaces. |
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New Tree Champion to ‘drive forward’ planting at local level
13/06/2018 Local authorities are to be required to consult with residents before felling trees in their areas under a new duty, the environment secretary has said. |
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Council secures conviction over ‘mass destruction’ of protected trees
02/05/2018 Borough of Poole has successfully prosecuted a man after he illegally chopped down 11 protected trees in the garden of his property. |
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Half of Sheffield's trees threatened by controversial highways contract
12/03/2018 Up to 17,500 trees could be replaced in Sheffield City Council’s highways maintenance contract, newly released information has revealed. |
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Council calls for help to catch ‘phantom tree feller'
02/08/2017 Slough Borough Council has called on residents to be vigilant after a mystery person chopped down six large trees. |
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Whitehall announces multi-million pound tree planting fund
21/07/2017 The Government has made a £13m fund available to help councils plant more trees and reduce the flood risk to communities. |
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Council threatens councillor with legal action for tree felling protest
28/06/2017 Sheffield Council has threatened legal action against environmentalists and an opposition councillor who are trying to prevent some trees being removed. |
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Controversy over council decision to cut down Queen Mother’s trees
03/02/2017 Northumberland council has been criticised for cutting down trees that were planted in the Queen Mother’s honour. |
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Can money really grow on trees?
29/09/2016 Scott Fitzgerald explains why Salford City Council has created a detailed inventory of its highways trees. |
