New forest to be created in west of England, with 20m trees planted by 2050

Western Forest will cover 2,500 hectares across Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Bristol

A new Western Forest is to be created across a swathe of the west of England from the Cotswolds to the Mendips, the government has said.

The project, one of the government's promised national forests, will create 2,500 hectares (6,200 acres) of woodland by 2030 across five priority areas in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Bristol, with plans to plant 20m trees by 2050.