Funding is available for planting trees in urban areas to help support people’s health and wellbeing, as well as wider environmental benefits.
The Urban Tree Challenge Fund (UTCF) was first developed in response to the Government’s commitment to provide millions of pounds for planting both large and small trees in and around England’s towns and cities.
Urban trees are said to offer a range of benefits, including temperature moderation, flood risk mitigation, and improved wellbeing – particularly when in close proximity to large populations. The UTCF will contribute to delivering these benefits through the targeted planting thousands of large and small trees and in urban and peri-urban areas.
The new trees will also support the UK’s journey to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and commitment to increase tree planting across the UK to 30,000 hectares of trees a year by 2025.
The fund is currently open with a planting budget of £3.8 million (excluding establishment payments) for the coming planting season 2022/23. This round supports both block bids and individual applications. A block bid is designed for organisations to apply for funding towards multiple projects that can be geographically dispersed or focused in one area but submitted under one application.
The guideline for block bids is a minimum funding requirement of £125,000. Individual applications are for smaller, focused areas of planting undertaken by small organisations or community groups. These individual applications will need a minimum funding requirement of £10,000 up to a maximum of £30,000.
Applications are accepted from community and volunteer groups, town councils and individuals wishing to plant trees in urban areas of England. Applicants must have full management control over the land or signed consent from those with such control.
Applications must be submitted by 31 May 2022 (23:59 BST).
How To Apply
The latest application window for the Urban Tree Challenge Fund is now open and will close on 31 May 2022 (23:59 BST).
To apply, applicants will need to register with Rural Payments to obtain a Single Business Identifier (SBI).
Those wishing to apply should submit an Expression of Interest and return to [email protected]
For more information, visit the GOV website.