Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a statutory national register of heritage trees.

Ancient and veteran trees are our most important trees and considered irreplaceable habitats. They are protected through planning policy, and local authorities can grant additional protections to individual high-value trees through Tree Preservation Orders. Defra is continuing to focus on improving how these protections are implemented, to ensure these trees are safeguarded in practice as well as in policy, while also considering what further measures could be included in a new Trees Action Plan.