Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether waterways businesses will be eligible for the Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund; and what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on that eligibility.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published detailed guidance for local authorities on the administration of the Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund. The grant funding is specifically for small businesses that for whatever reason do not qualify for other COVID-19 support schemes. The guidance also sets out that the eligibility criteria for qualifying small businesses is not exhaustive, but is intended to illustrate for local authorities which types of business the Government considers should be a priority for the scheme.
Local authorities are encouraged to use this when deciding whether particular situations are broadly similar in nature to the examples given in the guidance and therefore eligible for grants, and to exercise their local knowledge and discretion to decide which cases to support, taking account of their relevance to the local economy. Waterways businesses are free to apply for grant funding.
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has allocated funding to the establishment of nature recovery networks.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Biodiversity is a devolved matter and the information here relates to England only.
The Government announced in the recent budget an investment of up to £25 million in a Nature Recovery Network (NRN) Fund which will bring together businesses, landowners and local communities to protect and restore habitats, species and landscapes to allow nature to thrive everywhere.
That is not the extent of our ambition. We are bringing forward the first Environment Bill in over 20 years to lay the foundation for the NRN. It establishes spatial strategies for nature – Local Nature Recovery Strategies - that will help direct investment in recovery. It also makes provision for Biodiversity Net Gain, which will provide an important source of investment in the NRN.
In addition, the Nature for Climate Fund, also announced in the budget, will support natural habitats like woodlands and peat bogs. Our new Environmental Land Management scheme, underpinned by the Agricultural Bill, will reward farmers and other land managers for delivering environmental public goods, including thriving plants and wildlife. We are exploring, for example through our testing and trials programme, and the government’s recently published policy discussion document, how the scheme can support the NRN.
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of trees are recognised as (a) ancient and (b) veteran in England and Wales.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Forestry is a devolved matter and so this answer is in relation to England only.
The Government does not have a statutory duty to collate numbers of Ancient and Veteran Trees. The Ancient Tree Inventory (ATI) currently lists 160,000 ancient, veteran and notable trees across the UK. The Natural England and Forestry Commission Standing Advice on Ancient Woodland, Ancient and Veteran Trees, available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ancient-woodland-and-veteran-trees-protection-surveys-licences, directs users to the Woodland Trust’s ATI which is collated by volunteers around the country at https://ati.woodlandtrust.org.uk/.
The Government updated the National Planning Policy Framework in 2019 to improve protection of ancient and veteran trees, noting that these are irreplaceable habitat and these should only be lost to development with wholly exceptional reasons and with a suitable compensation strategy in place. For more information you can visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-planning-policy-framework--2.
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which of her Department's capital investment programmes have involved expenditure in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency since 2010.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Since 2010, approximately £96.2 million of Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Grant in aid funding has been spent in the Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency, with a further £23.6 million currently committed to be spent by October 2015.