Critics argue public grants for planting woodlands are benefiting the wealthiest over local communities, but landowners say they're helping fight climate change

Billionaires, aristocrats and private investment funds are scooping up millions of pounds in taxpayer subsidies to plant trees, The i Paper can reveal.

Data released under Freedom of Information requests shows some of the biggest beneficiaries of tree planting subsidies include members of aristocratic families such as the Duke of Sutherland, the Duke of Buccleuch and Lord Dalmeny, whose estates have all received over £500,000 in public subsidies in the past five years.

Foreign billionaires, including Anders Holch Povlsen, the Danish owner of ASOS and Mohammed Mahdi Al Tajir, a businessman and former UAE ambassador to the UK, also own estates that have received similarly large sums.