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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department are taking to encourage tree planting in urban areas.

We are committed to increasing tree planting and are setting out policies to achieve this in the Government’s action plan on trees, including planting and protecting trees in and around urban areas. We are already delivering on this through:

• £80 million of charity-led projects funded through the Green Recovery Challenge Fund, the first round of which supported a wide range of projects to protect, restore and connect people with nature, including a national street tree sponsorship scheme and tree planting around the NHS estate.
• The £10 million Urban Tree Challenge Fund, supporting planting of up to 134,000 trees, including 20,000 street trees.
• £12.1 million investment in England's ten Community Forests to create high quality, accessible woodlands around towns and cities.
• £2.5 million to pilot innovative means to grow trees outside woods, in partnership with Local Authorities.

This complements wider support for urban greening through:

• Creation of a Nature Recovery Network, connecting wildlife-rich places across our towns, cities and countryside.
• Development of a National Framework of Green Infrastructure Standards to help local authorities, developers and communities to improve greening provision.
• Designing and investing in healthy places to live and work through the forthcoming National Model Design Code, Towns Fund and new £4 billion Levelling Up Fund.