£3.8 million has been invested to plant 100,000 new trees and expand woodland in London, through the second round of the Green and Resilience Spaces Fund.
The funding is set to improve almost 30 hectares of green space in the capital, create 50 hectares of new publicly accessible woodland and restore nature to over a kilometre of river.  
16 project as set to receive funding to increase tree planting and make green spaces more accessible to Londoners.

Trees have been planted in Budleigh Salterton, Devon as part of the The Lower Otter Restoration Project (LORP).
23,000 saplings have now been planted across the site, 225 of which were planted as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy scheme.
A lot of the planting is located on the former domestic tip site, which is being reclaimed by nature and become a pleasant green space for the community and visitors.

A review carried out by researchers from Imperial College London’s Environmental Research Group via Imperial Projects has investigated the health impacts on pollution throughout a person's life.
The report reveals that that air pollution poses a serious risk to people’s health at every stage of life, including prior to birth.
The report found that air pollution negatively affects sperm count and mobility and can also impair normal foetal development in the womb, increasing the risk of miscarriage, low birth weight and pre-term births.

The Department for Business and Trade has announced a new Smart Data Council intended to help lower bills for consumers and small firms by making it easier to switch utility providers.
According to the department, the difference between what loyal and new consumers pay for the same service is £1,114 across mobile, mortgages and broadband.

The government has announced that all plans for new smart motorways have been shelved. The reasons for this are stated as financial pressures and a lack of confidence from drivers.
It is estimated that it would have cost more than £1 billion to construct the smart motorways that were planned.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak said: "All drivers deserve to have confidence in the roads they use to get around the country.
"That’s why last year I pledged to stop the building of all new smart motorways, and today I’m making good on that promise.

London boroughs have launched a new shared vision for delivering landlord services for council tenants.
More than one in ten homes in London is let by a local authority and 19 per cent of England's social housing stock is found there.

The Mayor of London has announced £875,000 for communities to tackle hate and extremism.
The money will go towards community projects tackling extremism, hate, intolerance and radicalisation. 25 projects across the city will receive funding to run workshops and educational activities to empower 30,000 Londoners of all ages to challenge racist and hateful views in their communities.
In 2022, 32 children and teenagers under 17 were arrested for terror offences - the highest on record.

The government has launched a consultation on a revised Air Quality Strategy.
The Strategy outlines how councils in England should use their existing powers and responsibilities more effectively to deliver improvements to air quality.
The draft strategy includes outlining the actions councils can undertake to improve air quality; setting out actions for councils to reduce emissions of fine particulate matter, the pollutant most damaging to health; and providing a framework to enable local authorities to make the best use of their powers and deliver for their communities.

Funding has been awarded to innovative projects designed to capture and store renewable energy for later use.
£30 million will be shared among the recipients, designing and testing innovative technology to modernise the energy system and store renewable energy for later use.
Among the recipients is Synchrostor in Edinburgh, which will receive £9.4 million to build a Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (PTES) grid-connected demonstration plant operating at 1MW, with the ability to charge and discharge for a period of 10 hours, longer than current battery technology.

A Project Gigabit contract has been awarded to Wessex Internet to roll out broadband to around 10,500 homes and businesses in the New Forest.
The first properties are expected to be connected in February 2024.
Wessex Internet will work closely with Forestry England and the Verderers of the New Forest over the three-year programme, with work set to begin later this year.