Newcastle City Council tree plans 'embarrassingly unambitious'

The council's new tree strategy is expected to be formally approved in April

Plans to plant 19,000 trees in Newcastle by 2050 have been labelled "embarrassingly unambitious".

The city council announced a new strategy after the area was branded the tree-felling capital of the UK.

Green campaigners said it did not go far enough to combat air pollution or mitigate the environmental harm caused by new housing developments.

But the Labour-run authority said the city's current tree canopy cover was above the national average.

In June, a Freedom of Information request submitted by The Sunday Times showed the council had felled almost 8,500 trees over the past three years - nearly twice as many as any other local authority.

The council said it had consulted extensively, including with tree experts and organisations like the Woodland Trust, on a new strategy, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Green campaigners say trees in Newcastle are being "chopped down, built on and tarmacked over"

However, Taymar Pitman, from the Green Party said: "Newcastle Council felled 1% of the city's trees between 2015 and 2018.

"This makes its goal of increasing tree cover by less than 2% in the next 30 years look embarrassingly unambitious."

Councillor Nick Kemp, cabinet member for environment, said: "The tree strategy is just one element of a combination of policies and activities we are driving forward in our great city.

"The benefits that cities achieve through a sound and robust suite of environmental policies are clear and this council is committed to achieving the very best for our residents and for the future of our city."