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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the target date for the completion of the planting for the Northern Forest; and whether they are on target to meet that date.

As part of the 25 Year Environment Plan, we provided a kick-start investment of £5.7 million to support the Northern Forest Partnership (NFP) of the Community Forests and the Woodland Trust. The partnership’s long-term ambition is to plant 50 million trees across the North. Our initial investment is funding at least 1.8 million new trees by 2022, and through further investment in tree planting in this parliament we will go above and beyond that.

We continue to work with the NFP to identify, develop and implement delivery plans to ensure new trees are planted in the places of greatest need and that these trees are well managed and maintained for current and future generations to enjoy.