Ealing is set to get even greener as 20,000 new trees are planned to be planted in a new urban woodland in Southall.

On Monday (November 24) as part of wider work to make the city greener, the Mayor announced a new partnership with Unilever which will deliver 40,000 new trees to the capital.

20,000 trees will reportedly be offered free to London’s schools and another 20,000 will create a new urban woodland in Southall.

The site, King George’s Field, is a large 29.5 acre playing field in Southall and is currently underused according to the Mayor.

The proposed project aims to transform part of the amenity grassland and to create native woodland edge habitat by planting up to 20,000 whips, fruit trees and shrubs for foraging, natural play and biodiversity.

The Mayor of London is working with delivery partner Trees for Cities, volunteers, local community groups, and staff from Unilever as part of the partnership to plant the trees over a number of days through November 2015 to March 2016.

Hundreds of volunteers rolled up their sleeves in Ealing on Sunday (November 22) to start planting some of the new woodland forest in Southall.

'The trees in Ealing will help to improve local air quality'

London’s eight million trees are worth a staggering £6.1 billion to the capital and contribute £130 million in wider benefits, according to a new survey.

The iTree urban forest survey used over 300 volunteers to analyse and count trees on the ‘services’ they provide from the carbon they store, the pollution they remove, and rainwater they hold.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: “London is one of the greenest, leafiest cities on the planet and as this survey proves, our canopy does a ‘tree mendous’ job of lowering pollution, alleviating flood water and boosting our environment.

“I encourage as many schools as possible to sign up for a great array of free foliage and I look forward to seeing the new Ealing woodland take shape.”

Read More: Ealing Mayor cuts the ribbon on two "Edible Playgrounds" in the borough

Kate Sheldon, Acting Chief Executive at Trees for Cities said: “This project demonstrates the powerful effect of bringing people together to plant trees.

“People of all ages love to plant a tree; it is great exercise, great fun, and makes such a difference to community spaces.

“The trees in Ealing will help improve local air quality and create new wildlife habitat.”