GROUPS from across North Ayrshire are being encouraged to support North Ayrshire's tree planting bid.

Local organisations have been invited to apply to the woodland grant fund, which was established to encourage communities to get involved in the council’s drive to plant 108,000 trees across the region by 2030.

The target has been set as part of North Ayrshire Council’s determination to be carbon-neutral by 2030.

Now in its fourth year, the scheme has already proved successful, with thousands of trees having been planted throughout the mainland and on Arran.

A diverse range of groups have successfully received funding to deliver projects ranging from the creation of small community fruit orchards to larger scale native woodland creation.

There is a total of £25,000 available in the fund with a maximum of £5,000 per applicant and it will support tree planting ambitions for the forthcoming winter tree planting season between November 2024 and March 2025.

The closing date for applications is October 31, and only constituted, not for profit community groups can apply to the grant fund.

Councillor Tony Gurney, cabinet member for green environment and economy, said: “This has proved to be a really valuable fund and will continue to support our tree-planting ambitions for North Ayrshire.

“There has been a number of fantastic projects across the area and we’ve also recently helped communities creating orchards which has the added benefit of tying in with our food strategy.

“We are looking at other larger-scale sites but there will be opportunities for the community to get involved on a smaller, more manageable scale.

"This is a really important element of our tree-planting strategy and it will be great to work with more and more groups as we look to reach our target by 2030.

“This fund will really support groups in their ambition and we look forward to hearing from applicants over the coming weeks."

Full details on how to apply can be found online at 2030woodland-north-ayrshire.hub.arcgis.com/.

If the council receive more applications than funding available, not every project may be successful.

For applicants who are unsuccessful this year, the grant fund will open again for new applications in future tree planting seasons.