Nigel Farage’s constituency of Clacton-on-Sea is a “tree desert”, leaving people more exposed to air pollution, poorer health, lower life expectancy and the impact of rising temperatures, according to a new report.

The Essex town is rated the worst-performing for equal access to trees in England, with the highest proportion of urban residents – 98.2% – living in neighbourhoods with critically low access to trees.

The research, which covered the whole of the UK, found a significant north-south divide, with 15 of the worst-performing towns and cities for tree cover located in the north. Hartlepool’s population has particularly low access to trees, with 86.9% of residents at risk from a lack of access.

Caroline Gray, Woodland Trust tree equity programme officer, said: “More than a million people in the UK are living in these ‘tree deserts’, places of critically low tree equity where communities are missing out on the many benefits trees provide.

“That can mean hotter homes and streets, dirtier air, higher rates of asthma and heart disease, and poorer physical and mental health. These challenges affect daily life in countless ways and, combined with wider inequities, can even contribute to lower life expectancy.”

Scarcity of trees in urban areas puts people more at risk of stress, anxiety, depression and poor physical health, research suggests. Trees in urban environments reduce the risk of floods, keep the air cleaner and protect from rising temperatures.

The north-east was identified as the region with the highest number of “tree deserts”, with 13 of the worst-performing English towns. London and the south-east fare the best for access to tree density, including Woking and Tunbridge Wells, with five of the best-performing areas located in the capital, including Lambeth, Islington and Hackney.

Gray said everyone should have easy, nearby access to the environmental and health benefits of trees – known as tree equity. Wealthier areas, however, tend to have more tree abundance, while areas of social deprivation have far fewer trees.

The Woodland Trust said tree equity should be embedded into urban planning – and trees that are planted must be cared for and protected to ensure they continued to thrive and improved the quality of life of residents for years to come.

Gray added that the aim was not to criticise local authorities but to raise awareness of where people are most impacted in order to encourage greater support, investment and action. “Schools and communities in areas can apply for our free trees – we want to support local authorities and the people that live there.”

Councillor Adrian Smith, Cabinet Member for Environment at Tendring District Council (TDC), said that “the characterisation of areas such as Clacton as a ‘tree desert’ does not reflect the reality on the ground. More than 40,000 trees have been planted in Tendring in recent years, through the Tendring Woodland Initiative Group, and with support from partners including the Essex Forest Initiative. In addition, the council has planted more than 1,500 trees across many of our open spaces, helping to strengthen tree cover in our urban areas and bring the benefits of green infrastructure closer to residents, as part of the Urban Tree Challenge Fund. Alongside this, community-led planting projects, memorial tree additions within our cemeteries, and ongoing maintenance programmes further demonstrate our commitment to increasing biodiversity and enhancing green spaces across the district.”

The rankings reflect the scale of the population exposed to low tree equity, rather than simply identifying areas with the lowest overall tree cover. Tree equity does not just measure abundance, but also reflects whether areas have enough tree cover to meet local needs – for example, in areas of high air pollution, the need for access to tree cover would be greater than in an area with cleaner air.

Trees in urban areas create habitats for wildlife, help prevent flooding by acting as natural sponges and umbrellas, improve air quality and keep cities and towns shaded and cool. But they are under constant threat from development and under stress in many areas from climate breakdown.

In several cities, including Plymouth and Sheffield, the felling of urban trees has prompted public protests.