Grants boost plans to plant 700,000 trees

Leicestershire County Council said the funding would also go towards employing a new woodland officer

More than £200,000 has been awarded to a council that is aiming to plant 700,000 trees in Leicestershire.

Leicestershire County Council said it was successful in its bid for £150,000 from the Woodland Creation Accelerator Fund.

It was also awarded £55,830 from the Forestry Commission's Treescapes Fund.

The council added it hoped to achieve its "ambitious" plans to plant a tree for every person in the county over the next two years.

The grants will also go towards employing a new woodland officer, creating new areas of woodland and planting at the side of roads, the authority added.

Blake Pain, cabinet member for the environment and the green agenda at the council, said: "We have identified tree and woodland planting as part of our response to the climate change and biodiversity crises and are working towards helping to plant a tree for every resident, with more than 110,000 planted so far.

"The new funding will help deliver our ambitious objectives and provide expertise for ensuring advice, support and direct delivery of tree planting schemes can be achieved, accessing both our own funding for tree planting and from external bodies such as the Forestry Commission."

Mr Pain added trees and woodlands "can provide multiple benefits that improve the quality of life" for communities.