More land for tree planting is to be bought by Wales's environment body to compensate for woodland cut down for wind farms. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) chiefs have agreed to acquire sites totalling 260 hectares - the same area of woodland it manages on behalf of the Welsh Government which is expected to be lost to new renewable energy projects up to 2026.
Buying the land and planting trees on it is expected to cost just over £8 million, and is on top of 350 hectares that NRW has previously acquired for the same reason. The acquisition of land for tree-planting in Wales has become a sensitive issue - a point alluded to in a report before NRW's board, which suggested media lines to take when journalists asked questions.
Campaigners have been critical of a mechanism which allows investors from outside Wales to offset emissions by buying up farms to plant trees on.
