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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she provides guidance to local councils on large-scale tree felling projects.

The government is committed to protecting our valuable street trees. The government requirement for local authorities to consult the public when they fell street trees will come into force later this year. We will be issuing guidance on the duty to consult later this year. The consultation process will increase transparency in decision making and allow the public to be consulted before a street tree is felled. In December 2022 we published best practice guidance for local authorities to produce their own local tree and woodland strategies, supporting local authorities to expand, manage and protect local treescapes. The Local Authority Tree and Woodland Strategy Toolkit provides step-by-step guidance to develop an effective trees and woodland strategy to realise the multiple benefits trees can deliver to communities. We want to see more trees close to where people live. Defra supports LAs tree planting activity through access to several of the Nature for Climate Fund Grant schemes, such as the Local Authority Treescape Fund, Urban Tree Challenge Fund, Woodland Creation Accelerator Fund and the England Woodland Creation Offer.