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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Government response to the Housing White Paper will consider ancient woodland and veteran trees.

We are currently analysing responses to the public consultation on the Housing White Paper, which included proposals to strengthen the protections afforded to ancient woodland and aged or veteran trees when preparing plans or making decisions on planning applications. This change to national planning policy would place these irreplaceable habitats alongside other policies, such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Green Belt, National Parks and designated heritage assets.