A leading conservation charity has called on Somerset Council to "retrofit" recent housing developments by planting more trees on-site.

The council is one of 48 local authorities in the UK which has received central government funding to create a local nature recovery strategy (LNRS) – which will lay out ways in which wildlife-rich habitats across Somerset can be created and restored.

The Woodland Trust, which works with local councils and volunteer groups to increase Britain's tree cover and protect existing woodlands, is pushing the council to increase tree planting in urban areas.

The council said it had committed to planting 240 hectares of new trees every year until 2033, and would work with the Woodland Trust to achieve this.

The Woodland Trust launched its campaign at the Local Government Association (LGA) conference in Bournemouth on July 4, with the publication of a new report, Trees and Woods at the Heart of Nature Recovery in England.

The report calls for adding trees to housing estates which currently have less than 16 per cent tree cover, as well as 30 per cent tree cover for all new housing developments and a commitment that everyone will eventually live within ten minutes of publicly open green space.

Report co-author and the trust's nature recovery lead officer Louise Wilkinson said: "We recognise the enormous strain on local authority budgets and wrote this report to offer a helping hand on how to surmount the challenge of rapid declines in nature.

"This year the government handed local authorities the task of involving communities in writing LNRSs. This is a golden chance for communities to map out what they want to see, where to bring nature back, and crucially, to embed this in local policy.

"It's a tough task so we have published the top steps that should be incorporated."

Since 1970, 35 per cent of wildlife species have declined, with children growing up in 2023 are 70 per cent less likely then their parents to see a hedgehog, and dormice populations falling by nearly half since the children currently attending primary school were born.

The proportion of urban green space is also in decline as the housing crisis continues, with small pockets of green land being swallowed up by developers and urban creep threatening villages on the edges of larger towns.

Woodland Trust chief executive Darren Moorcroft said tree planting would be a vital plant in ensuring Somerset's biodiversity and residential amenity would increase in the years ahead.

He said: "Trees and woods are critical in creating better, healthier places for people to live and all communities should have access to these benefits.

"As well as driving nature's return, tree numbers correlate to improving people's health and well-being – something that's being increasingly recognised by leaders across the globe.

"This is why our report calls for councils to ensure more trees on new and existing housing estates as well as improved access to woodland, so that trees and woods can benefit their residents and nature alike.

"We know many people feel unheard but we're asking them not to underestimate the power of lending their weight to campaigns that challenge elected politicians to listen.

Our report is focussed on solutions, not panic. There are answers to the crisis we face; we just need action – and it can be done."

The council recently ratified its tree strategy, which commits to drastically increasing Somerset's tree cover over the next decade from its current level of eight per cent to the national average of 13 per cent.

The strategy is designed to enhance the Woodland Trust's work and other projects such as Trees for Water, which receives funding from the Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) to plant trees in strategic areas, with a view to reducing surface water run-off near strategically important roads and major housing developments.

A council spokesman said: "We are supportive of all the work to increase tree cover in the county. We recently produced a Somerset Tree Strategy that has a range of ambitious aims, including the planting of an extra 240 hectares of new trees and woodlands each year over the next ten years.

"The Woodland Trust is one of the key partners in that strategy and will also be an active player in the LNRS the development of which the council will be leading on in the coming months.

"We are committed to nature recovery and increasing the county's tree coverage from its current eight per cent to the national average of 13 per cent and more if possible."

To create the LNRS, £310,000 has been provided by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), with the work expected to take 12 to 18 months.

This will include multiple rounds of public consultation, with the council seeing the input of businesses, farmers and landowners as well as regular residents.

The LNRS is designed to complement and enhance existing policies, such as the Taunton Garden Town prospectus, and may also influence the Somerset-wide Local Plan which will be assembled over the coming years.

Kirsty Larkins, the council's service director for climate and sustainability, said: "One of our key priorities is a greener, more sustainable Somerset, and it is vital that we act now to recover and protect wildlife and nature and halt the decline of biodiversity in Somerset, playing our part in the UK-wide effort.

"This protection and enhancement goes hand in hand with our commitment to tackle climate change. As with any strategy of this kind, the key to its success will be collaboration – developing common goals we can all get behind, by working together and building understanding.

"We look forward to working with Somerset residents and other partners to develop this strategy together."

To read the Woodland Trust's report, or for more information on its campaigns, visit www.woodlandtrust.org/publications.