Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to encourage local authorities to plant more trees.

Local authorities have an important role in contributing to England’s tree planting targets and maximising the benefits of these trees, for example through planting urban and street trees, which are often the closest green infrastructure to people’s homes. Defra supports local authorities’ tree planting activity through access to several of the Nature for Climate Fund grant schemes, as well as through support for the Community Forests.