The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH) has been awarded a £488,394 grant from the UK Government’s Trees Call to Action Fund.
We are delighted that this funding will enable us to coordinate and expand the NHS Forest, and support our sites in planting 21,000 trees across England over the next three years. It will also allow us to establish a new scheme offering site-specific ecological advice to 15 healthcare sites. Through the project, we will support NHS sites in expanding, enhancing and conserving woodlands and making wider green space improvements to increase the social and ecological value of NHS grounds.
The £6 million Trees Call to Action Fund supports projects which protect trees and woodlands, boost forestry skills and jobs, develop woodland creation partnerships, and engage communities with nature. The fund will distribute grants between £250,000-500,000 to be spent over three years, funding 12 projects across England. The fund was developed by Defra in partnership with the Forestry Commission, and is being delivered by the Heritage Fund.
Carey Newson, CSH’s Green Space for Health Programme Director, said, “We are very excited to be awarded funding for the NHS Forest from the Trees Call to Action Fund. This will allow us to expand this flagship project further, reaching many more NHS sites and working in depth with our NHS partners to improve the biodiversity of their grounds. In the last tree planting season, our NHS Forest sites planted more than 15,000 trees across the UK and we’re thrilled to be building on this success. Trees have a great many benefits – providing shade, storing carbon, creating wildlife homes, improving air quality. At healthcare sites they also provide green views for patients that have been found to support recovery, making NHS Forest trees especially beneficial.”
The other projects funded through this year’s Trees Call to Action Fund include six new Woodland Creation Partnerships across rural and urban areas; two projects to develop the skills and workforce of the trees and forestry sector; and two projects which engage people, by engaging farmers to improve woodland condition, and restoring England’s hedgerows. All projects funded will support progress towards achieving the key objectives of the England Trees Action Plan – the Government’s long-term plans for England’s trees, woodlands and forests.
A full list of awards is available to view here.
This project is funded by the Trees Call to Action Fund. The fund was developed by Defra in partnership with the Forestry Commission and is being delivered by the Heritage Fund.