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 expanding the Forest of Marston Vale community forest to the south.

Any assessment of the potential merits of expanding the Forest of Marston Vale would be made by the Forest of Marston Vale Trust and its local partners. This is one of a national network of fifteen Community Forests funded by Defra to plant thousands of hectares of new trees and woodland. Suitable sites for woodland creation are identified within agreed boundaries that encompass 61 square miles between Bedford and Milton Keynes.