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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many trees were (a) planted and (b) cut down in the last 12 months.

Trees, woods and forests are a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only. Neither Defra nor the Forestry Commission records tree planting data except for trees planted in England with central government support.

The latest figures from the Forestry Commission’s Corporate Plan Performance Indicators, published on 13 June, show that from April 2018 to March 2019 at least 2.06 million trees have been planted with central government support, equivalent to approximately 1,273 hectares of woodland creation.

The Forestry Commissioners are responsible for the control of tree felling under the provisions in Part II of the Forestry Act 1967 (as amended). However, there are a number of exemptions from the requirements for a Felling Licence, including trees growing in private gardens, trees felled directly as a result of the granting of planning permission, felling approved in a legacy English Woodland Grant Scheme and trees felled on the Public Forest Estate. There is also no obligation to fell the trees once a Licence, which can be valid for up to 10 years, has been granted. These are some of the reasons why we do not know how many trees have been cut down. In the vast majority of cases where clear felling has been approved there will be a restocking requirement attached to the Licence.

The Forestry Commission also publishes, as part of its Corporate Plan Performance Indicators, the net change in woodland area based on the balance between new planting of woodland and woodland removal, this information was last updated on 13 June 2019 and can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/forestry-commission-corporate-plan-performance-indicators