Angela Eagle Pledges £79 Million for England Tree Planting

Environment Secretary Angela Eagle announced a £79 million funding package to plant 500,000 trees across England over the next three years. Speaking at the Labour party conference in Liverpool, Eagle detailed a plan that allocates £53 million for tree-planting and £26 million for local nature recovery strategies.

The initiative focuses on restoring meadows, river edges, and wetlands to manage floods and reduce the severity of droughts. To increase national resilience against the climate crisis, the government will shift funding and decision-making authority to local authorities, mayors, charities, and grassroots groups.

The announcement follows criticism of the government's Sustainable Farming Incentive, which saw a £253 million environmental fund exhausted within six hours of opening. Craig Bennett, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts, argued that nature protection should be viewed as a national security and natural resilience budget rather than just a farming budget.