Environment Secretary Angela Eagle is set to announce a pledge to plant half a million trees across England over the next three years. The initiative aims to protect against extreme weather events.
The plan includes a £79m package, with £53m allocated for tree-planting and £26m for “local nature recovery strategies”. This funding will be detailed in Eagle’s speech at the Labour party conference in Liverpool.
Mayors, local authorities, charities, and grassroots groups will be given new funding and responsibilities. These will focus on restoring natural landscapes such as wetlands, river edges, and meadows, which can help with natural flood management and reduce drought damage.
Eagle is expected to highlight the urgent need for more trees and natural landscape protection, citing this summer’s drought. She will state that areas where nature has flourished experienced less severe droughts and lower temperatures due to tree shade, and reduced flood risk when rain arrived.
Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, described the plans as “very encouraging”. Richard Benwell, chief executive of the Wildlife and Countryside Link charity, called it a “good start” towards the government’s long-term challenges.