Ancient Trees: Protections

Baroness Walmsley Excerpts

Thursday 24th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

My noble friend makes some extremely good points. The new National Planning Policy Framework recognises ancient and veteran trees as irreplaceable habitats and makes it clear that any planning decisions should not result in their deterioration or loss, so it is good that we now have that in the NPPF. As I mentioned earlier, we are considering the report by the Tree Council in order to look at how we can improve protections for such trees, and I am sure that sanctions will be part of what we are considering. Ancient trees—because you cannot just plant another tree and recreate that habitat—need special attention.

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords, as the Minister has just said, ancient trees not only lock up massive amounts of carbon for decades or even centuries but provide an amazing, biodiverse habitat for wildlife. While we encourage planting new trees, it takes a long time for them to lock up anything like the same amount of carbon. So what are the Government doing to encourage landowners to identify massive ancient trees and perhaps apply for tree preservation orders or something of that nature?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

Defra has just been mapping trees in this country, so that we have a better understanding of how many trees we have, where they are and what types of trees they are, so we are doing quite a lot of work to understand what trees we have. Also, as I am sure the noble Baroness and other noble Lords are aware, when applying for what was BPS and is now ELMS, the mapping of particularly important large trees on farmland is currently carried out. When we look at the Tree Council report, we need to consider how we can use that information to make sure that the most important trees are protected and that landowners are encouraged to do so.