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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to reduce the cost to local authorities of installing new tree pits for street trees.

Through a partnership with The Tree Council, we have invested more than £3 million over the last two years to increase urban tree cover, supporting 28 local authorities and charities to plant street trees and create greener urban spaces so far, with more projects to come this winter. We are also developing future options for planting support for urban trees, to significantly boost the numbers of new trees established on streets across England.

Forestry Commission and the Trees and Design Action Group have published new guidance, which includes practical advice and technical drawings on designing and constructing effective tree pits for both new build streetscapes and urban retrofits.