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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what criteria will be used to assess bids from eligible organisations seeking to become the delivery partner for the third new national forest.

A competition for the third new national forest was launched on 26 May 2026. The competition will test the financial and environmental merits of potential delivery partners, assess organisational capability and expertise, and ability to deliver a landscape-scale woodland creation programme. The full criteria and application process can be found in Annex A of the Third New National Forest: North and Midlands – Commercial Guidance here.