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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the cost to local authorities of removing hard plastic tree guards at the end of the usage cycle.

It has not been possible to produce a single robust estimate of the cost to local authorities of removing hard plastic tree guards as costs vary depending on local circumstances, scale of planting and disposal arrangements.

Tree planting grants recognise the need to manage plastics. England Woodland Creation Offer and Urban Tree Challenge Fund agreements require the removal and appropriate disposal of guards. The Local Authority Treescapes Fund also promotes minimising plastic use.

Payment rates under the England Woodland Creation Offer and the Local Authority Treescapes Fund included a contribution to the removal and disposal or tree guards.