Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether it is his policy that a Clean Air Zone can be a (a) category B zone and (b) non-charging zone.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Air pollution is the most significant environmental threat to public health, and so we have an ambitious programme of work to deliver cleaner air. Our 2017 UK Plan for tackling nitrogen dioxide concentrations sets out that if a local authority can identify measures other than charging zones that are at least as effective at reducing NO2, and are at the same or lower cost, those measures should be preferred. Our Clean Air Zone framework sets out the principles for setting up a zone in England to give councils maximum flexibility to fit their local context.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether (a) he and (b) officials in his Department have had discussions with (i) the Prime Minister and (ii) Number 10 officials on the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 2 March 2022, Official Report, column 1037, regarding the Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone plan is currently under review by their authorities as announced on 4 February. Prior to this, Ministers held discussions with the Mayor in agreeing to the review. Since then, there have been no further discussions between the Secretary of State and the Mayor on the proposals, but our officials continue to engage with Greater Manchester’s.
We have not yet received any detailed proposals and evidence from Greater Manchester authorities regarding their proposal, or setting out how it fulfils their legal obligations and can be implemented and delivered.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with (a) the Mayor of Greater Manchester, (b) the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and (c) Transport for Greater Manchester on their request for a non-charging Clean Air Zone.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone plan is currently under review by their authorities as announced on 4 February. Prior to this, Ministers held discussions with the Mayor in agreeing to the review. Since then, there have been no further discussions between the Secretary of State and the Mayor on the proposals, but our officials continue to engage with Greater Manchester’s.
We have not yet received any detailed proposals and evidence from Greater Manchester authorities regarding their proposal, or setting out how it fulfils their legal obligations and can be implemented and delivered.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Prime Minister’s oral contribution of 2 March 2022, Official Report, column 1037, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the request from the Greater Manchester Mayor and Combined Authority for a non-charging clean air zone for Greater Manchester.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone plan is currently under review by their authorities as announced on 4 February. Prior to this, Ministers held discussions with the Mayor in agreeing to the review. Since then, there have been no further discussions between the Secretary of State and the Mayor on the proposals, but our officials continue to engage with Greater Manchester’s.
We have not yet received any detailed proposals and evidence from Greater Manchester authorities regarding their proposal, or setting out how it fulfils their legal obligations and can be implemented and delivered.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans the Government has to set targets for hedgerow expansion in the forthcoming review of the 25 year Environmental Improvement Plan.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Hedgerows are one of the most important ecological building blocks in our farmed landscape. They maintain the distinctive character of our countryside, providing crucial habitats and food for wildlife. Our primary tools to deliver environmentally beneficial hedgerow management and hedgerow creation are the Environmental Stewardship and Countryside Stewardship schemes. Our future farming schemes will also incentivise the planting and sustainable management of hedgerows across England.
We are required by the Environment Act 2021 to set a legally binding target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030, alongside other biodiversity targets we are currently consulting on. In order to meet our world leading species abundance target, we will need to create more, better joined up habitats, which will include hedgerows. We are also consulting on a target to create or restore in excess of 500,000 ha of wildlife-rich habitat outside protected sites by 2042. We propose that hedgerows should be one of the wildlife-rich habitats included in this target.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in light of the proposed Environment Act targets published by his Department on 16 March 2022 to increase tree canopy and woodland cover from 14.5 per cent to 17.5 per cent of total land area in England by 2050, what assessment he has made of the (a) tree canopy cover provided by existing hedgerow trees and (b) potential area enhanced hedgerow trees could provide in the future by 2050.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Hedgerows are one of the most important ecological building blocks in our farmed landscape. They maintain the distinctive character of our countryside, providing crucial habitats and food for wildlife. The trees that appear in hedgerows and outgrown hedges are defined as 'linear features in the National Forest Inventory', which details all tree cover in Britain. Forest Research's ' Tree Cover Outside Woodland in Great Britain', 2017, reported the last comprehensive inventory and is due to be updated again in 2022/23. This will act as the proposed target's baseline for trees outside woodlands, including hedgerow trees, and both losses and gains from that baseline will be accounted for.
Along with the proposed tree target, the Environment Act 2021 requires us to set a world leading target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030, alongside other biodiversity targets we are consulting on. The species abundance target will require creating more, better joined up habitats, which will include hedgerows to help tackle the causes of decline and drive actions to deliver nature recovery. We also propose that hedgerows should be one of the wildlife-rich habitats in our proposed legally binding target to create or restore in excess of 500,000 hectares of a range of wildlife-rich habitat outside protected sites by 2042.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her meeting of 9 March 2022 with the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish, what steps she expects the Environment Agency to take in response to further reports of pollution in the River Tame arising from illegal pollutants being discharged into the tributary Wilson Brook.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Following information received through further reports of pollution at Wilson brook, Hyde Park on Thursday 17 March 2022, the Environment Agency (EA) attended Hyde Park to investigate. The pollution was traced to a point upstream of a local industrial estate. The EA investigation into this incident is ongoing, and it will be attending the location again this week to further progress its investigation. Should this uncover further lines of enquiry, further investigations to understand the source, pathway, cause and nature of the pollution will commence.
If the EA identifies any offences attributable to a suspect, then enforcement action will be taken in line with its offence response options available here:
Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR) offences - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Taking into consideration alongside its Enforcement and Sanctions Policy:
Environment Agency enforcement and sanctions policy - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The EA has also been in contact with local businesses in that area to ensure they are acting responsibly.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what changes to the Service Level Agreement have been made between Border Force and the Animal and Plant Health Agency since December 2021.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and Border Force (BF) teams do not have a Service Level Agreement in place. AHPA and BF have an operational agreement for the Port of Dover.
Dover BF officers continue to make referrals to the APHA officers. There has been one change to the operational agreement. This change means that Dover BF will no longer hold the vehicle/consignment for more than 30 minutes. If APHA is unable to deploy staff to attend within 30 minutes the vehicle/consignment will be released. Details of the vehicle, person responsible for the animals and the consignment will be provided to APHA to follow up retrospectively.
If APHA attend within 30 minutes and identify non-compliance, UK Dover will not support this part of the process. APHA will be required to request assistance to manage any issues as required from the Port of Dover Police or Kent Police, if they are not present.