Minutes of the APPG meeting 11 September 2024
Attendees
Parliamentary: Alex Mayer MP (Lab, Dunstable, Houghton Regis and Leighton Buzzard), Baroness Young of Old Scone (Lab), Rebecca Paul MP (Con, Reigate), Sarah Dyke MP (Lib Dem, Glastonbury and Somerton), Shaun Davies MP (Lab, Telford), Lord Carrington (Crossbench), Dr Manuela Perteghella MP (Lib Dem, Stratford on Avon), Katie Lam MP (Con, Weald of Kent), Lord Lucas (Con), Earl of Leicester (Con), Steve Race MP (Lab, Exeter).
Woodland Trust: Abi Bunker, Dr James Cooper, Richard O’Callaghan, Andy Allen, Juli Titherington and Rosie Beardmore.
Apologies: Dr Roz Savage MP (Lib Dem, South Cotswolds), Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Lib Dem).
Head of external affairs for the Woodland Trust, Dr James Cooper, introduced the meeting with a brief history of the APPG for Woods and Trees. He outlined the previous successes of the APPG, including ensuring ancient woodland and ancient and veteran tree protections were strengthened in the Government’s 2018 revision of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and securing strengthened protections for ancient woodland via amendments to the Environment Act 2021 and the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023.
The Annual General Meeting then took place where Alex Mayer MP (Lab, Dunstable, Houghton Regis and Leighton Buzzard) was elected as Chair, Sarah Dyke MP (Lib Dem, Glastonbury and Somerton), Katie Lam MP (Con, Weald of Kent) and Baroness Young of Old Scone (Lab) were elected as officers.
Lead policy advocate for land use at the Woodland Trust, Andy Allen, then spoke about the outlook for woods and trees over this Parliament. He spoke about the Environmental Improvement Plan review under the current Government and mentioned the overall target of increasing tree canopy cover from 14.5% to 16.5% by 2050 with an interim target of 34,000 hectares of new woodland. He stated that this is a “significant challenge”, and progress had been achieved through £750 million provided by the Nature for Climate Fund which ends in March 2025, highlighting the need for a new fund if we are to meet the UK’s legal targets. He noted that despite some recent successes in woodland creation, tree planting targets have been missed every year over the last five years.
From a positive standpoint, Andy spoke about the Northern Forest which he said has been successful in ramping up the level of woodland in the North. He said in order for more efforts to be successful there needs to be long term commitment and proper engagement with landowners. He highlighted the upcoming spending review and suggested pressures on public funding will impact tree planting which relies on this. Andy spoke about the job creation from this sector, particularly through the investment in domestic nurseries. Andy also covered development and the need for woods and trees to contribute to better places through policies like a canopy cover target of 30% for new development.
Abi Bunker then covered the opportunities and challenges of the Government’s proposed planning reforms. She outlined the key messages from Government, including growth, planning and housebuilding. Abi explained that the Woodland Trust has engaged successfully over the years in the NPPF consultation process and through this, we saw the inclusion of “wholly exceptional circumstances” which limits the scope of development on ancient woodland. Abi said that even with this clause, there are too many cases where ancient and veteran woods and trees are under threat from development. She stated that inappropriate planning remains a priority, and the Trust would like to grasp the opportunity to further embed a nature positive approach within planning policy. Within this, Abi discussed the UK Tree Equity Score.
Baroness Young of Old Scone explained her Heritage Trees Private Members Bill which seeks to improve protections for the UK’s most important trees. She linked this back to the Sycamore Gap felling in 2023. Baroness Young outlined that the Bill would firstly see a recognition that there does need to be protection for those trees, then an agreed list with local authorities and finally a new designation of a heritage tree protection order and a clause that would provide the ability to support the owner of heritage trees with proper management and advice.
In the question and answer section, a Parliamentarian asked about skills in the sector and protection for non-ancient and veteran trees. Abi said that both private and public sectors recognise the challenge and the need to address this skills gap. She said the Trust is engaging with environmental organisations to address this. Juli added that there has also been a loss of woodland management skills, with a focus on planting trees but not managing them afterwards. Juli compared the UK to Europe, where such jobs are considered as highly respected and there needs to be incentives for woodland management to see this happen in the UK.
Another Parliamentarian asked about homegrown versus imported trees and the lack of capacity to encourage homegrown trees. They asked how this can be balanced. Abi suggested the need for centralised support for local authorities and raised the Trust’s Emergency Tree Fund as a way to provide funding for this. Richard spoke about the increased interest in tree nurseries, and the various ways of setting up nurseries. Juli spoke about not just the need for more funding but consistency over time for those setting up nurseries.
An attendee asked about the opportunities and challenges in the NPPF consultation and asked if the Trust or APPG are submitting a response. Abi reiterated that planning policy is one of the Trust’s big priorities. James explained that the Trust has engaged with the NPPF previously and the APPG has submitted letters to the Secretary of State on various topics. He added that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill process begins at the end of the year and the Trust wants to make its presence felt there.
Another member raised deliverability and how developers can be held accountable for the trees they are mandated to plant by local authorities. James said that there are canopy cover standards that the Trust wants to see in development to ensure tree-lined living and communities. Abi spoke about the Trust’s work with the National Trust to bring nature into cities and towns. She said developers need to see green infrastructure and trees as part of the infrastructure and not just add-ons.
A Parliamentarian asked about how communities can care for trees. Abi mentioned the role of citizen science and the need to provide more avenues to get citizens involved. The success of tree equity in the United States for creating community engagement was also discussed.
With no other areas of business, the Chair brought the meeting to an end.