Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they were aware that trees would be felled in Sheephouse Wood when they agreed £40m funding for a tunnel to mitigate the impact on wildlife in Sheephouse Wood.

Wildlife mitigations adjacent to Sheephouse Wood include physical measures to protect the local bat population, as well as a green overbridge, and landscaping for public access. Given that the HS2 route in this area is overground rather than in tunnel, a number of trees along the perimeter of Sheephouse Wood have had to be removed to fulfil safety requirements alongside an operational railway. These trees were removed with the necessary permissions from Natural England, and HS2 Ltd informed the Department for Transport in advance of the works taking place. The requirement to deliver these works was included in the overall funding allocations for the HS2 project.