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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 7 January (HL65), how many Tree Preservation Orders there are in England; and whether they expect that number to increase between 2020 and 2025.

Information on the number of Tree Preservation Orders is not collected or held centrally, and it would be an unreliable indicator of the state of the nation’s trees. This Government is, however, encouraging new tree planting on a massive scale, and expects every local authority to be mindful of the benefits of tree cover to the environment, to place-making, and to physical and mental health, whether or not a particular tree or group of trees requires special protection on amenity grounds.