Green push sees 100,000 trees planted in county

Blake Pain planting treeImage source, Leicestershire County Council
Image caption,

Councillor Blake Pain planted a tree at County Hall

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Leicestershire County Council says it has planted more than 100,000 trees over the past year as part of a project to make the county greener.

The authority has pledged to plant 700,000 trees in the coming years - roughly one for every person in the county.

It has also set itself the target of becoming a carbon net zero county by 2045.

The council said Leicestershire was currently one of the UK's least wooded areas.

Only about 6% of the county is currently woodland, compared to a national average of 10%, it said.

The tree-planting push has seen the authority planting trees itself and giving away planting kits to groups and residents.