BRADFORD Council will get a £15,000 share of regional Government funding to support tree planting across the district.

The Council will use the money to fund an officer to push forward its Tree for Every Child project – in which it plans to plant the equivalent of a tree for every primary school child in the district over the next two years.

This will amount to around 55,000 trees.

The Council will match the £15,000 with money from its Tree for Every Child budget to fund the officer post.

Once in place, the new officer will identify woodland sites across the district and plan where trees can be planted.

This work will enable Bradford Council to secure further funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for tree-planting schemes.

The money comes from a £3.7m funding package awarded to the White Rose Forest by DEFRA last month as part of the new Trees for Climate programme.

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The White Rose Forest is one of ten community forests across England and covers North and West Yorkshire. The community forests will plant 500 hectares of new woodland across the country over the next five months. The White Rose Forest will use the funding to plant 218 hectares of trees during the next planting season. The Trees for Climate funding has been made available to White Rose Forest partners to help build a pipeline of planting schemes across North and West Yorkshire.

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Executive Member for Healthy People and Places, said: “We are delighted to get a share of this funding which will help us drive forward our Tree for Every Child programme. It will enable us to plan how best to create new woodland which has benefits for our carbon levels, as well as our health, wellbeing and enjoyment of outdoor spaces.”

Guy Thompson, Programme Director for the White Rose Forest, said, “Bradford Council’s Tree for Every Child initiative is one of several important tree planting projects that will help us continue to grow the White Rose Forest this winter thanks to the Government’s Trees for Climate funding.

“As the community forest for North and West Yorkshire, the White Rose Forest works with landowners across the region to deliver local tree planting programmes that will improve our natural environment, reduce flood risk and help combat climate change.”