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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to encourage tree planting in areas that are prone to recurrent flooding.

The Government continues to fund and support research into the utility of trees in flood prevention, for example through the joint Defra/Environment Agency ‘Working with Natural Processes’ research programme, and the Forestry Commission’s Science and Innovation Strategy work.

In July, Defra also announced the allocation of £15 million specifically for natural flood management projects. Several of the 58 projects undertaken within this programme include tree planting amongst their interventions.

Flood risk management is one of the targeting criteria for woodland creation funded through the Countryside Stewardship scheme. Countryside Stewardship also supports the installation of leaky woody dams in new and existing woodland to aid flood mitigation.

Additionally, Forest Research, the Forestry Commission’s research agency, is conducting a number of medium and long term projects on this topic, often in partnership with water regulators, universities and end users. These cover process, modelling, economic and mapping studies designed to quantify and demonstrate how woodland can contribute to flood risk management. One flagship project led by Forest Research is the ‘Slowing the Flow’ at Pickering study. This is evaluating how the integrated application of a range of land use and management measures can alleviate flooding, including woodland creation and the use of large woody structures.