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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the contribution of national trails to biodiversity gain.

We are aware of the wider benefits that national trails can bring for nature recovery and biodiversity gain.

The Coast to Coast National Trail was the first to include wider benefits in the National Trail proposal. This resulted in funding being allocated to nature recovery projects from the start of the establishment phase. We are mapping biodiversity projects associated with the trails and encouraging Local Nature Recovery Statements to consider the potential of National Trails.