In June, the Government appointed Sir William Worsley as Tree Champion to boost planting rates and help it to meet its target of planting 12 million trees including 1 million in urban areas by 2022.

The appointment is welcome news in the face of our country’s ailing woodlands. Tree planting in England is at its lowest level for a generation and latest figures from the World Bank show that coverage is at 13 per cent, compared with the European average of 38 per cent.

Public outcry in response to the attempt to sell of the public forest estate in 2010 and more recently, plans for large-scale clearance of street trees in Sheffield demonstrate how highly we value our trees.

Plant biosecurity is rising up the agenda as an increasing number of pests and diseases are imported each year, in soil, on vehicles and in packaging, to which our well-adapted own species are often defenceless. Add to this, climate change and the increasing frequency of extreme weather it brings, and it's clear that our trees are getting a tough ride.

Longer quarantine periods, more thorough checks and outright bans on imported materials are all worthy considerations to help tackle these challenges.

The unnecessary felling of street trees is another key issue. Space in our cities is at a premium and demand for housing is high, which makes the question of how best to go about incorporating trees into our urban areas an increasingly complex one. Of course trees are not cheap to maintain, requiring skilled specialists to look after them, so who should pay?

Another problem is that while it's easy for people to agree that trees are important, where to plant them, how many and which species to plant; along with the land use change, is always a challenging subject.

There are already incentives for planting trees and funding available from the EU to undertake afforestation initiatives. Yet despite the social, environmental and economic support, the country is failing to raise levels of planting sufficiently.

High land values in the South of England and the value offered by land used in housing and food production is a barrier. In the North, the Government has announced plans for a Northern Forest along the M62 corridor, which it is backing with a fund of almost £6million and it has widened the application period for the new woodland creation grant to be year-round.The existing grant rate is up to £6,800 per hectare and there is also the offer of a 10-year maintenance grant. 

While there are many issues affecting planting, it's important to note that timber prices are at the highest they have been for some time, prompting more owners to open the forest gate again.

Sir William’s appointment emphasises the importance of the cause to Government, on which basis there is now real potential to build this into a wave of action on trees at last.

Further information

Contact Savills Rural