Asked by: Earl of Leicester (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding was awarded to local authorities in (1) 2021, and (2) 2022, from (a) the Local Authority Treescapes Fund, and (b) the Urban Tree Challenge Fund.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Forestry is a devolved matter and so this answer is for England only.
The Urban Tree Challenge Fund (UTCF) has an expected survival rate of 100% for standard trees in the first two years, dropping to 90% from year three. A selection of planting sites is inspected each year. Any excess failures will require remedial action for trees to be replaced. All post-planting reports for the Local Authority Treescape Fund (LATF) confirm a survival rate of at least 75%.
The UTCF also includes three years of establishment payments for weeding, watering and aftercare to help secure successful establishment. In 2022, this government also offered extraordinary payments to UTCF holders to replace trees lost due to the hot and dry weather.
Figures for these funds are provided in the table below.
Year | Fund | Funding awarded (£m) | Local authorities funded |
2021-22 | LATF | 8.4 | 42 |
2021-22 | UTCF | 8.4 | 63 |
2022-23 | LATF | 6.7 | 35 |
2021-23 | UTCF | 3.6 | 39 |
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much and what proportion of woodland creation funded through the Nature for Climate Fund is met through (a) natural colonisation and (b) tree planting; and in which areas these woodlands have been created.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Nature for Climate Fund (NCF) offers include a range of different types of tree planting to support the establishment of “the right tree in the right place”. The England Woodland Creation Offer includes Additional Contributions to support nature recovery, of which natural colonisation is one of them. 192 hectares of natural colonisation has been established so far. Other NCF planting grants also support natural colonisation, but we do not hold data on the amount of planting that has been created through natural colonisation for those schemes’
The Forestry Commission produces statistics on all new planting of woodland for the UK. These can be found in Forestry Statistics (https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/forestry-statistics/) on the Forest Research website. These statistics are reported for each financial year in thousands of hectares. The latest available figures are for 2021-22. These figures include woodland created through natural colonisation but it does not specify a separate figure for woodland created through natural colonisation.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Exeter (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of acres of Grade 4 agricultural land that could be used for planting trees; and what consideration they have given to providing incentives to owners to use such land for that purpose.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Forestry is a devolved matter and so unless otherwise stated this answer relates to England only. Our analysis has shown there are over three million hectares of low-risk land available for woodland creation. This analysis has identified areas of low sensitivity for woodland creation – areas which have few or no known constraints for new woodlands, excluding protected landscapes and priority habitats, amongst other sensitivities. This analysis includes grade 4 agricultural land but does not separate it from other sensitivities as woodland creation needs to be considered in its context. We are providing new and innovative incentives like the England Woodland Creation Offer to help land managers make woodlands part of their business where this is appropriate.
Agriculture remains the largest land use in the UK, with an estimated 77% of the total area of the UK used for agricultural purposes, and therefore has substantial potential to contribute to the UK’s tree planting goals, by converting marginal or unproductive land into new woodland without taking good agricultural land out of use.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 21 March (HL6421), how many grants they made to private landowners for support with the costs described in (1) 2022, (2) 2021, (3) 2020, and (4) 2019.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government provides grants for private landowners, to help with costs associated with ecological surveys and felling roadside ash with ash dieback, through the Tree Health Grant Pilot. This scheme provides financial and technical support to facilitators to coordinate the removal of dangerous ash trees along roads and public paths for groups of landowners. Support covers the costs and administration of ecological surveys, felling licences, protected species licences (if needed) and road closure permissions, as well as restocking.
Pilots are running in the North West, the South East, London and the West Midlands and landowners are eligible if they have ash with ash dieback along roads or paths. The pilot launched in August 2021 and the full scheme is expected to be launched Nationwide in 2025. The numbers of grants made under this pilot for ash dieback so far are:
Following this low uptake, Defra is working with the Forestry Commission and the Tree Council to review and improve the provision for ash with ash dieback along roads and paths. Defra has also brought together local authorities in the pilot areas to provide feedback on the ash offer and how it can be improved to better suit their needs. Following an independent evaluation report, which included several recommendations from local authorities, Defra has amended the ash offer and this improved offer will be launched across the pilot areas in April.
Local authorities can also apply for funds to restore landscapes ecologically degraded by ash dieback and other pressures through the Local Authority Treescapes Fund (LATF), also launched in 2021. Although local authorities must lead applications to this fund, they are able to work with private landowners and other organisations to deliver recovery planting. Since 2021, over £15m has been awarded through this fund, although the number of private landowners receiving funding is determined by the local authorities administering funding, and Defra do not hold data on this. The grant is currently open for 2023 applications. The numbers of grants made to local authorities under LATF so far are:
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many new trees have been planted as part of the Northern Forest project in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Northern Forest is an ambitious landscape scale partnership that aims to establish at least 50 million new trees by 2043 in and around the cities of Liverpool, Chester, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Hull. The government supports the Northern Forest as a contributor to levelling up by supporting new and existing jobs, rural economies, fighting climate change, facilitating nature recovery, and encouraging greater private investment in trees and woodlands. So far, the core partnership of the Woodland Trust, Mersey Forest, Manchester City of Trees, White Rose Forest and Humber Forest have established over 5 million new trees since 2018.
The Forestry Commission publishes information on new tree planting annually, including in the Northern Forest. These figures can be obtained from its Headline Key Performance Indicators reports, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/forestry-commission-corporate-plan-performance-indicators. The most recent published provisional statistics are shown below (and is attached):
Year | Hectares Planted | Equivalent in number of trees |
21/22 | 150 | 168,000 |
20/21 | 69 | 159,000 |
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their Tree health resilience strategy, published on 25 May 2018, what progress they have made in each year since 2018 in respect of the goals they identified to improve the (1) extent, (2) connectivity, (3) diversity, and (4) condition, of trees, woods and forests in England.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Forestry Commission publish annual statistical reports on Key Performance Indicators. Since 2020, these reports have included data on the extent and net change in woodland area, the connectivity of woodland, and the ecological condition (including the age and species diversity) of woodlands in England.
The latest available report (published June 2022) shows a marginal increase in woodland area, an improvement in net change and little change in connectivity for the last five years of published data. The condition and diversity indicators do not yet have a time series covering five years.
Through the England Trees Action Plan, we committed to treble tree planting rates in England by the end of this Parliament. This commitment, supported by the £640m Nature for Climate Fund, is helping the sector to deliver more resilient trees, woods and forests. The Countryside Stewardship scheme and the tree health pilot scheme also provide financial support for removal of diseased trees and restocking of trees.
Asked by: Earl of Leicester (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government who they have consulted within the forestry industry regarding their tree planting policy; and what consultation they are currently conducting to inform that policy.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Between 19 June 2020 and 11 September 2020, the government ran a public consultation to help inform the development of a new action plan for trees, woodland and forestry in England. We received over 20,400 responses to this consultation, which are summarised in the England Tree Strategy consultation analysis of responses available at GOV.UK.
The England Trees Action Plan was informed by responses to the consultation and provides the strategic framework for the policy measures we will take over this parliament and beyond to meet our long-term vision for healthy and resilient treescapes to 2050. Implementation of the action plan is supported by over £650 million of funding under the Nature for Climate Fund. Our dialogue with delivery partners and other stakeholders continues through the Future of Trees & Forestry Forum and other engagements.
Asked by: Earl of Leicester (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consultation they are undertaking regarding the planting of trees to ensure the correct type of tree is being planted, the time of planting is optimum, and the appropriate protections for the trees are being considered to ensure trees planted survive; and what discussions they have had with local authorities also consulting on these matters.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Afforestation proposals are screened against environmental constraints and concerns under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) forestry regulations. Defra group / The Forestry Commission has published guidance to help landowners develop appropriate proposals where afforestation is on or near breeding wader sites, and on whether to plant or restock woodland on deep peat and peaty soils. When assessing proposals for grant or regulatory approval, the Forestry Commission must consult the proposer, the relevant interested bodies and place details of the proposal on the Public Register for forestry projects. The Forestry Commission must also consider stakeholder feedback before a decision on approval is made
The UK Forestry Standard sets out the requirements and standards for sustainable forestry, as well as supporting guidance on woodland creation good practice. Maintenance grants are available to help ensure trees are appropriately planted and survive.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce deforestation (a) in the UK and (b) overseas.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
In England, when a felling licence is issued, there is a presumption to replant after tree felling. The Forestry Commission also has an enforcement capability under the Forestry Act 1967 (as amended) to combat unlicensed and illegal felling, with additional measures in the Environment Act 2021 that will commence on 1 January 2023 that will enhance these enforcement tools.
Where trees are felled without restocking conditions attached, Open Habitats Policy provides definition if compensatory woodland planting is required. Similarly, the introduction of Biodiversity Net Gain will also define compensatory planting required as a result of woodland habitat loss due to planned development if permitted.
The UK Government has introduced world-leading due diligence legislation through the Environment Act to help tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains. We recently ran a consultation to seek views on how we should implement Environment Act provisions, including which commodities we should regulate through the first round of secondary legislation, and have since published a summary of responses, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/tackling-illegal-deforestation-in-uk-supply-chains.
Deforestation is a global issue that requires global collaboration, and this world-leading due diligence legislation will help tackle as part of a wider package of measures, designed to improve the sustainability of our supply chains contribute to global efforts to protect forests and other ecosystems.
Asked by: Earl Cathcart (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to creating a plan for both (1) new, and (2) existing, forests, and all tree species, that enables the UK forestry industry to (a) measure, and (b) value, carbon for owners, in order to (i) enhance and develop management of existing forestry, and (ii) encourage and incentivise the planting of new trees; and what assessment they have made of whether this could reduce the need for state support in the form of planting grants.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government recognises the need to unlock more private sector investment as set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan and HMG Green Finance Strategy. We have committed to raising at least £500 million in private finance every year by 2027 to support nature recovery in England, which will finance projects including woodland creation. The Government also supports the use of blended finance models to mobilise private investment alongside Government grants. This month, the Government launched the Big Nature Impact Fund which blends Defra grants with private investment finance for nature-based projects selling ecosystem services, including woodland creation and peatland restoration.
The Government supported the development of the Woodland Carbon Code, launched in 2011, to create a mechanism to allow landowners to sell woodland carbon. A total of 1,640 projects were registered under the Woodland Carbon Code across the UK by the end of June 2022, covering around 61 thousand hectares of woodland and projected to sequester 19.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over their lifetime. The Code provides a project and carbon registry, as well as carbon projection tools and protocols for measuring carbon in all types of woodland.
In March 2022, the UK Emissions Trading Scheme Authority published a call for evidence on the role of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme as a potential long-term market for both engineered and nature-based greenhouse gas removals. The call for evidence included questions regarding what impacts or opportunities this might present for the Woodland Carbon Code. The UK Emissions Trading Scheme Authority will publish a response in due course.