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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to establish a tree planting target for England to achieve an increase in England’s woodland cover; and how they plan to ensure that progress towards any target is achieved.

We are committed to increasing planting across the UK to 30,000 hectares per year by 2025 and are exploring whether a statutory target for trees in England would be appropriate, under the process proposed by the Environment Bill.

Our ambitious England Tree Strategy, being published early next year, will set out more detailed plans for achieving this unprecedented increase in woodland creation, supported by the £640 million Nature for Climate Fund announced in the March Budget.

Plans to help kickstart the nation’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund were announced on 18 November. This will include the expansion of protected landscapes, increased access to nature, stronger flood resilience, and the creation and retention of thousands of green jobs.

Over 500 hectares trees will be planted across England’s ten Community Forests, from Yorkshire to Somerset over the next five months, backed by £12.1 million of investment. This will also build the pipeline of projects for community planting in future years.