In our industry, Stuart Goodall, CEO of Confor, which represents 1600 UK forestry and wood-using businesses, said: "I'm delighted to see the Government confirm it is putting £640 million behind its tree planting target - the biggest injection of forestry funding for a generation.

"It's a positive statement of intent that ministers are serious about planting trees to tackle the climate emergency, reduce flood risk and rejuvenate our rural economies.

"We welcome the ambition to plant 30,000 hectares (75,000 acres) of new woodland annually by 2025 - exactly the same target Confor set in its paper last year.

"The industry will wait with interest to see more details of how we get trees in the ground and start making a real difference. We have had too many years of woeful tree planting in England - only 7200 hectares planted in the last five years in total - and we need to see ambition matched by action.

"Confor and its members will now do everything possible to get planting done, working constructively with Government, public forestry sector and all other stakeholders."

Source:Confor