Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assistance his Department provides to local authorities on replacing trees in pavements.

The Government has funded the “Big Tree Plant” scheme, giving up to £4 million in grants from 2011 to 2015 to help pay for the planting of at least once million new trees in urban areas. The scheme is now closed to new applicants, but nearly 820,000 new trees have already been planted.

Councils also receive general funding from central government and locally-raised sources which can be used to support tree planting, if they wish.

The “Manual for Streets”, while out of date in certain areas (e.g. on parking and density), contains some guidance on street trees and tree planting. It can be found at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/manual-for-streets