A FOREST nursery near Whitchurch has been given a £4 million boost into a new 25,000 sq m tree growing facility.

Maelor Forest Nurseries is the UK's largest commercial tree nursery and a member of the BSW Group, and said the investment in its "miniplug" facility – which allows trees to be grown from seed in three stages – will help secure the future supply of high-quality trees.

The new facility will allow a million seeds to be sown every two days, with a total capacity of 30 million seedlings, and customers will be able to purchase the first seedlings in just over a year’s time.

Mark O'Neill, the operations director at Maelor, said there are plans to use the facility to cultivate alternative tree species that will be available to customers.

He added: "The new investment by BSW Group into Maelor will strengthen both our operational output and our ability to lead the sector on innovation of new tree species.

"Old methods are no longer the most environmentally friendly, and do not necessarily provide consistent quality.

"We’re already seeing significant benefits to the new miniplug facility, including the ability to optimise temperature and water usage and improve the grading of the crop.

"Improving our ability to sow 30 million seeds a year means we're able to service our customers and the sector more efficiently, helping to meet targets such as increasing forest coverage to 19 per cent by 2050."