The government has announced funding to support tree planting projects across England.

More than £9 million will be allocated to successful applicants through the Local Authority Treescapes Fund and the Urban Tree Challenge Fund.

It is predicted almost 680,000 trees will be planted in towns, cities and rural areas to increase public access to nature and boost health and wellbeing.

Forestry Minister Lord Goldsmith said: “Everyone across the country deserves to benefit from the cleaner air and natural beauty that trees offer.

“The funding will support inspiring projects in England to level up people’s access to nature, support our wider ambitions to treble tree planting rates by the end of this Parliament and achieve net zero by 2050.”

The government has already committed to planting nearly 30,000 hectares of trees across the UK every year by 2025.