Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what area of acacia trees was removed from Dhekelia Sovereign Base Area in 2014; and what the cost was of such action.

My right hon. Friend, the Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Mark Francois) spoke to the Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds on 6 March 2015 and informed him that approximately 7.02 hectares of acacia trees were removed from within the firing zone of the range at Cape Pyla in the Dhekelia Sovereign Base Area between November and December 2014. The work to remove the trees and associated illegal irrigation cost approximately €130,000.