Labour pledges £79 million fund to plant half a million trees
Angela Eagle announced the policy at Labour conference
Labour Party conference is wrapping up in Liverpool today (30 September). While the conference centre has thinned out and most attendees have departed, that hasn’t stopped frontbenchers making big policy announcements.
Today it was environment secretary Angela Eagle’s turn. She used her speech in the main hall to announce a plan to spend £79 million on planting half a million trees in England to make the country more resilient to climate change.
Eagle told the conference: “In areas where nature has been allowed to flourish, the ground held more water, and the droughts were less severe”, she told the conference, before going on to add: “On streets where trees have been planted, the shade meant temperatures were lower. And when rain finally came, those same trees reduced the risk of floods. We all deserve access to the benefits that nature can bring.”
The announcement will see £53 million to fund urban and rural tree planting in streets, parks and places close to where people live and work, cooling towns and cities and boosting biodiversity, and a further £26 million for Mayors and local authorities to help deliver nature recovery in their area and climate change.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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