Oral Answers to Questions

Jason McCartney Excerpts

Thursday 6th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

5. What steps her Department is taking to increase tree-planting rates.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

9. What steps her Department is taking to increase tree-planting rates.

[Colleen Fletcher (Coventry North East) (Lab)]

14. What plans she has to increase the number of trees planted each year.

--- Later in debate ---

[Theresa Villiers]

My hon. Friend makes a good point about setting appropriate targets. We plan to work closely with local authorities as we drive forward with our commitment to plant more trees. The Environment Bill contains important changes to the planning system—for example, an environmental net gain—that will encourage investment in nature, biodiversity and tree planting.

[Jason McCartney]

Does the Secretary of State agree with me and the Woodland Trust that we need to get local councils writing emergency tree plans that identify land for tree planting, and that we need to ensure that developments that come forward from housing developers include a minimum of 30% tree canopy cover?

[Theresa Villiers]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s ambition for tree planting in his local area. As I have said, changes to the planning system should incentivise investment in tree planting and nature. Programmes such as the urban tree challenge fund could provide a great opportunity for local authorities to play their part in delivering this tree-planting effort.