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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies on the regeneration of woodland of the number of hectares of natural colonisation that have been established in England through the woodland creation offer.

Natural colonisation has the potential to be a useful approach for woodland creation when utilised on appropriate sites, as an alternative to or complementing conventional planting. Through careful planning and management, allowing and helping natural processes to colonise land with trees can create woodlands with a structurally diverse range of habitats, while appearing natural in the landscape. That is why we are providing innovative grant finance and guidance to support natural colonisation through the England Woodland Creation Offer, as well as other grants.

So far, the England Woodland Creation Offer has had 77 applications and agreements that include natural colonisation with a total area of 214 hectares. We are exploring ways to increase the uptake natural colonisation grants, and in support of this we are investing £1.1m to better understand the mechanics of natural colonisation.