Tree Planting

(asked on 9th September 2021) - View Source

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 (a) in number and (b) by hectare have been planted in England in each year since 2010; and what steps he plans to take to ensure that the Government achieves its commitment to plant 30,000 hectares of trees each year by the end of this Parliament.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 14th September 2021

The Forestry Commission produces statistics on new planting and restocking of woodland combined by area, but not by tree numbers, in England and the UK. The area of new planting and restocking in England since 2010, taken from the published statistics, which are reported in thousands of hectares, is shown below.

Woodland Area (thousands of hectares)[i]

Year (ending 31 March)

New Planting and Restocking

England

2010

5.08

2011

6.50

2012

6.30

2013

6.57

2014

7.83

2015

8.83

2016

4.13

2017

4.15

2018

3.54

2019

3.07

2020

5.08

2021

4.16

Woodland area statistics can be found in Forestry Statistics on the Forest Research web site at: https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/forestry-statistics/

The Government has committed to increasing tree planting in the UK to 30,000 hectares per year by the end of this parliament. The England Trees Action Plan (ETAP), published in May, announced new measures for England to boost tree planting, establishment and management, support a thriving green economy through more private investment in trees and woodlands, and bring trees closer to people.

ETAP implementation is supported through more than £500 million from the Nature for Climate Fund. This includes over £25 million for Woodland Creation Partnerships this year, £6 million for the Urban Trees Challenge Fund for the next two years, a £2.7 million Local Authority Treescape Fund over this next year, and substantial funding for the recently launched England Woodland Creation Offer providing grants for woodland creation and establishment.

The plan sets out a host of other commitments to increase tree planting, including: selecting three new English regions to become part of the Woodland Creation Partnerships scheme to boost tree planting rates; setting up a new fund to support UK tree nurseries to enhance quantity, quality, diversity and biosecurity of domestic tree production and by establishing a new Impact Fund to leverage private green finance to boost tree planting rates.

[i] Source: Forestry Commission, Forestry England, Scottish Forestry, Forestry and Land Scotland, Natural Resources Wales, Forest Service grant schemes.

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