In September 2024, Natural England published the results of a £4.8m government-backed trial — the first rigorous UK test of the Miyawaki method. Delivered across 16 urban sites with a history of planting failure, in partnership with The Tree Council, Defra (the UK government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and five local authorities, it ran through the drought of summer 2022.
The results were striking. Miyawaki plots recorded an average survival rate of 79%, against 47% in comparison plots using standard local authority methods. The cost advantage was equally significant: £10 per surviving tree, against £50 for conventional planting.
Growth rates told the same story. As Louise Butfoy, Trees Outside Woodland Project Officer at Kent County Council, reported: “After three and a half years the trees generally resemble a dense thicket of early successional woodland — in fact some of the biggest trees are about 15 feet tall. All species are thriving, some are faster growing than others, many are flowering and producing seed already, and wildlife is making a home within the plot.”