Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of amending planning obligations to require developers to contribute to a fund for maintaining trees on new developments.

The National Planning Policy Framework was amended in July 2021 to set an expectation that all new streets should be tree-lined, and that local planning policies and decisions should ensure appropriate measures are in place to secure the long-term maintenance of newly planted trees. It also encourages developers and local planning, highways and tree officers to work together to ensure that the right trees are planted in the right places and that existing trees are retained wherever possible.