Exploring novel ways to reduce the costs of quality tree establishment through Defra’s Shared Outcomes Fund

The Tree Council’s Trees Outside Woodlands project is a £2.5 million investment over the next three years to plant and encourage vital trees in our landscapes, supporting England’s commitment to increase tree cover by planting, establishing and maintaining trees that thrive. It is part of HM Treasury’s £200m Shared Outcomes Fund.

Trees Outside of Woodland

Pilot 1: Urban Tree Establishment

Seeking to investigate methods of increasing urban tree cover, this pilot will assess the Miyawaki approach to establishing mini-woodlands in urban parks and green spaces.

Pilot 2: Subsidised Tree Scheme

This pilot aims to determine the best way of providing trees to individuals and organisations who will then plant them on their own land, and assesses the uptake levels and survival rates of trees disseminated.

Hedge planting and growing
tree planting for flood management

Pilot 3: Agroforestry and Orchards

This pilot seeks to determine which interventions could encourage significant increases in tree planting on farmland which, if accelerated, could provide a cost-effective method of delivering more trees outside woodlands.

Pilot 4: Trees in the Farmed Landscape

Despite having the largest population of ancient and veteran trees in northern Europe, changes in UK land use since the middle of the 20th Century have seen this number reduce, alongside decline in the hedgerow network.

Trees in the Farmed Landscape
Boosting Community Tree Nurseries

Pilot 5: Boosting Community Tree Nurseries

Community Tree Nurseries (CTNs) can supply high quality, locally grown, diverse, biosecure planting stock of local provenance for planting.