Campaigners have raised questions over the environmental impact of the newly proposed forest.

A community group is pushing back against plans to plant Sitka spruce next door to a nature reserve where public funding has been given to remove the species of conifer.

The team at Tarras Valley Nature Reserve (TVNR), one of Scotland’s largest community buyouts, said it started work this week removing self-seeding Sitka from the site near Langholm, in Dumfries and Galloway, as part of its nature restoration work.