Housebuilders who “just shove trees in the ground” to meet planting targets will be made to ensure they survive by watering them properly, as part of plans being considered by ministers.
Under the government’s legally binding environment improvement plan targets, which replace EU nature rules, the aim is to increase England’s woodland cover from 10% to 16.5% by 2050. The government has therefore set tree planting targets and asked private businesses to contribute in return for funding or as part of a biodiversity net gain plan.
However, woodland experts have warned that many trees are dying soon after being planted, as inappropriate species are chosen or they are placed too close together, or they are abandoned and not watered properly. They have asked the government to set tree survival targets, as it is not currently monitored.
The environment minister Rebecca Pow, who in her new role after the government reshuffle is responsible for climate resilience and nature, said she was aware of these concerns and was aiming to tackle the short lifespan of too many trees that are planted to meet government targets.
Taking aim at housing developers, she said: “We have examples of it … where hundreds of trees have been planted too close together, in the wrong soil type, and they’ve just died. We’ve seen it from sometimes big housing developers who’ve got to tick the box of planting X amount of trees but if you don’t put the right care in for the tree, there’s no way it’s going to survive.”
Pow said aftercare for trees, including watering and protection from pests, must be included in any scheme: “So that means also making sure the soil is suitable when you put the tree in, potentially having a system where we make sure that it can be watered in its first years but also protection from pests as well. This is absolutely critical. It can’t be just a matter of shoving trees in the ground.”
Pow has announced £16m of funding to Forest Research, the research agency of the Forestry Commission, to contribute to its work on helping trees survive the effects of climate breakdown, which include new pests that thrive in a warmer climate, and increasing droughts.
She said: “The evidence and the science is changing all the time, which is why research centres like this are so important because it will then inform what we should do.”
At the research centre, they are testing different tree species in different soils as well as finding new ways to eliminate pests, which can destroy whole woodlands.
Pow said: “It’s all very well having tree planting targets; we have to make sure those trees actually live. So there’s a lot of research now going on at this centre about the species that are the most climate-resilient.”
She said she hoped the research could alleviate some of the concerns nature experts have, including that having blanket tree planting targets and being paid a certain amount of money for each tree causes monocultures to be created, which may not be the best for biodiversity. The aim is to give species suggestions to those planting trees depending on the climate of where they are in the country, as well as their soil types.
