Ash dieback: 250,000 trees to be planted in Devon

Members of the public will be able to collect a free tree for their garden

Devon will see 250,000 new trees planted over the next four years to help with the loss of trees from ash dieback.

Members of the public will be given the free trees at various events across the county.

Devon Wildlife Trust is launching the project, funded with more than £750,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Trees will be given free to the public at 100 'tree hub' events from Thursday.

Ash dieback arrived in the UK in 2012 and has spread to all parts of the country and affected hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of ash trees.

Rosie Cotgreave, who is leading the Saving Devon's Treescapes project for Devon Wildlife Trust, said: "Ash dieback is going to affect us all, but this project is here to provide hope and action so we can ensure Devon's treescapes are healthy and resilient in the future."

The charity is receiving £758,600 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for the project which it will lead on behalf of the Devon Ash Dieback Resilience Forum.

Four people will be employed to work with communities across the county with a special focus on five areas: Torbay, South Devon, Coly Valley (East Devon), Exeter and Cranbrook.

A community tree nursery will be established at Broadclyst and 11.8miles (19km) of hedgerows will also be planted.

Free trees can be collected at Starcross Pavilion car park on Thursday between 11:00 GMT and 15:00, and Cullompton Town Hall, 10:00 to 13:00 on Saturday.

Ben Hunt is a trustee of Exeter-based community group Park Life Heavitree, which worked with Devon Wildlife Trust on a pilot project.

He said: "There was huge community support and we had no problems giving away the 200 trees at our event held in Heavitree Pleasure Ground in early April.

"It was great to hear and see so many people talking about their plans for the trees they took away and we're already planning for our 2022 tree hub event and how we might use some of the trees in the grounds of the new Park Life Cafe and community space just opened in the park."