Spending on trees in UK falls despite pledges to plant more

Less than 2 per person was spent on trees and forestry in 2017-18, Defra figures show

Spending on trees and forestry fell by nearly 20m a year between 2015 and 2018, when a purely Conservative government had taken over from the coalition, despite pledges to plant more trees.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said 132m was spent across the UK on trees in 2017-18, down from 151m in 2014-15. The more recent total included 32m in England, with most of the rest spent in Scotland.