Trees: Railways

(asked on 18th May 2020) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the English Tree Strategy consultation, what discussions officials in his Department have had with officials from the Department of Transport on trees along railway lines.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 27th May 2020

Defra has been working closely with other departments, including the Department for Transport (DfT), to develop the England Tree Strategy consultation.

The consultation will consider the role that all trees and woodland can play in delivering the 25 Year Environment Plan. In this way it echoes and aligns with DfT’s work to establish a clear position with Network Rail on the role of rail infrastructure in supporting the delivery of the 25 Year Environment Plan. Network Rail is responsible for 20,000km of track and around 6.3 million trees with the potential to support biodiversity around the country. DfT has therefore asked Network Rail to achieve no net loss in biodiversity on its existing lineside estate by 2024 and to achieve biodiversity net gain on each route by 2040.

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