A Cheltenham project and eight others across the South West have today been awarded a share of a £10million pot to increase tree numbers in urban areas through small-scale planting projects.

The money, for more than 50 projects in England, has been awarded as part of the second and final round of the Forestry Commission's Urban Tree Challenge Fund.

The second round will result in the planting of over 84,000 trees in towns and cities across the country, including 7,800 in the South West.

Within this, 1,000 trees will be planted as part of Cheltenham's Urban Tree Challenge.

A further 4,800 trees will be planted across four projects in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, as well as 320 in Weymouth, 750 at Newquay Community Orchard, 500 in Chard and 400 in Martock.

It is hoped the new trees will provide benefits to health and wellbeing, connect people with the outdoors, improve biodiversity and play a crucial role in the fight against climate change.

Sir William Worsley, chair of the Forestry Commission, said: "Community tree planting is a passion of mine, which is why I am so excited to see projects like these benefitting from our Urban Tree Challenge Fund.

"Trees give life to our streets and our parks, help improve the health of communities and provide homes for precious wildlife, and the thousands of new trees that will be planted will bring many benefits for generations to come."