16:32 Catherine West (Labour)

Unfortunately, this is a particular problem in Hornsey and Wood Green, where the clay soil that most homes are built on has moved during the severe droughts and flooding we have experienced for the past few summers. With the climate crisis worsening, extreme weather events are set to become a regular feature of British summers. The law on foreseeability also means that areas such as the London Borough of Haringey, where shrinkable London clay is the underlying soil, must have proactive tree maintenance programmes for all trees whose roots may cause damage to buildings.

Anyone can see that this needs to change. Often the finger of blame is too quickly pointed at a nearby tree, rather than investigating other causes and solutions. Mature trees help mitigate the worst impacts of climate change, but they are being cut down in the hope of fixing an immediate subsidence risk.

That is why I have called for a debate in Parliament on this issue. It is time that the Government properly recognise the critical role that trees play in improving our health and mitigating the worst effects of climate change and nature loss. The central issue here is that our current legislative protections for mature trees do not go far enough in recognising their value in making our communities healthier, happier places to live.

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16:43 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Trudy Harrison)

Trees are at the forefront of the Government’s plans to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, bending the curve on biodiversity loss and creating more jobs. That is exactly why we introduced the target to increase tree cover to 16.5% by 2050. Urban trees are already an important part of our plan to meet that target and will absolutely continue to be. Through technical guidance on tree planting and protection, and also tree planting grants, which we have on offer through the nature for climate fund, more and more trees are being planted in urban areas. Over 850,000 trees have been planted in urban areas. We have also introduced a new duty on local authorities to consult the public before felling street trees. The hon. Member is keen to know the timescale for that; I can confirm that we are seeking to commence the duty this year. We are currently developing appropriate guidance for the new duty to consult, which will be in place by the end of 2023.

I understand that the particular tree that the hon. Member referred to is around 120 years old—much older than the house that it is potentially causing harm to. That reinforces the need for a national planning policy that recognises that trees make an incredibly important contribution to the urban environment, helping our communities to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The national planning policy framework states that trees should be incorporated in new developments and that all new streets should be tree lined. Newly planted trees should be maintained and trees should be retained wherever possible. The national model design code now includes design parameters for the placement of street trees.

Tree preservation orders are used by local planning authorities to protect individual trees and woodlands that have high amenity value, including many urban trees. Consideration is given to the visibility of the tree, its rarity and its historical and cultural value. Local authorities can also consider a tree’s importance to nature conservation or to the response to climate change.

In closing, I thank everybody involved in this area, including nurseries, tree planters, protectors, maintenance, and the 32,000-strong workforce, which will grow. I am particularly grateful to those who are developing strategies and roadmaps for timber use. I hope that we see many more buildings in our communities made out of wood. It is a little known, often forgotten, or insufficiently considered fact that building with wood—timber construction—is also an incredibly important way to reduce our carbon footprint and achieve net zero while producing beautiful homes. I think we all have fine examples of beautiful timber being used in construction.

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