Buckinghamshire landowner tree-planting survey

We asked landowners with available land whether they were interested in planting trees to help us meet our Bucks Tree Mission target of planting 543,000 trees - a tree for every resident of Buckinghamshire.

We also asked for further information about the available land and offered support in how to go about tree planting.

You can find further information on the Bucks Tree Mission lower down on this page.

The survey ran from 30 April to 11 June 2026.

There were 121 responses to the survey.

Respondents represented the following groups:

• 89 private homeowners
• 12 farmers or agricultural landowners (including smallholders)
• 8 parish councils
• 8 community or voluntary organisations/groups
• 3 estate owners or managers
• 1 school

81% of respondents were very interested in tree planting, 13% were somewhat interested and 6% said they weren’t sure.

Respondents were asked to give their motivations for tree planting. They were able to select as many motivations as they wished from a list. The top five motivations were:

• Improving wildlife habitat (86% of respondents)
• Enhancing landscape and amenity (79% of respondents)
• Reducing carbon emissions (68% of respondents)
• Increasing biodiversity (64% of respondents)
• Improving soil health (48% of respondents)

When asked about concerns about or barriers to tree planting, cost was the primary issue, both in terms of initial planting (36%) and maintenance (25%). Connected with this was difficulty in applying for grant funding (14%). Other issues were the need for planting guidance (17%), lack of time or resources (15%) and concern over disruption to utilities or building foundations (14%).

When asked about the land that was available, responses emphasised smaller plots, reflecting the fact that most respondents were homeowners. Likewise, description of kinds of planting opportunities (multiple choices were allowed) focused on garden space (45% of respondents), though hedgerow planting (31% of respondents) and field margin planting (30% of respondents) were also significant.

There was a high response to our offer of advice, information and support, with requests from 100 respondents (83% of total respondents).

We reviewed responses from the survey and used this information to refine a tree pack pilot we were developing to offer to landowners this winter. This scheme, which ran from June to the end of September, invited residents who have access to and management responsibility for appropriate land to apply for packs of tree whips in bundles of either 45 smaller trees or a 135-tree pack suitable for hedging (this was an area of interest identified by a number of respondents).

Where contact information was provided, applicants who expressed interest in receiving trees for planting on their land were approached and offered information about the scheme and how to apply. This has directly led to at least 25 applications for this scheme.

Respondents who indicated they owned larger land holdings were also engaged directly and discussions then ensued as to suitability for larger scale tree planting. A number of these engagements are now progressing into applications for the Woodland Trust MOREwoods funded woodland creation, with Buckinghamshire Council offering to take on part of the landowner financial establishment costs.

The overall responses on motivations for tree planting, land availability and appetite for tree planting also provide useful contextual evidence when planning the Bucks Tree Mission moving forwards. We hope to repeat the survey at a future occasion to identify further interest and support more tree planting in our county.