Mary Creagh MP: speeches

Speeches

• 19 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member is absolutely right, but in the last five years under the previous Government, incidents rose by 20%. We are encouraging councils to seize and crush the vehicles of fly-tippers, and we will be consulting on a conditional caution so that people who do fly-tip will pick up and pay up.

• 19 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I agree that the environmental improvement plan that we inherited was not fit for purpose. We will oversee the largest ever investment in nature. We have banned bee-killing pesticides, licensed the first wild beaver release in England for 400 years, and announced the first new national forest for 30 years.

• 3 Mar 2026 · Environmental Protection and Biodiversity · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the mayor; he is a trailblazer both nationally and internationally through his climate and nature work. I know that Justin Beaver and his wife—I cannot remember her name, but it is a similarly cringeworthy pun—are living happily ever after. Actually, I do not know whether beavers live happily ever after; I think they are quite mean to each other. But they are definitely living happily in Ealing and providing those natural ecosystem services that we need—they are nature’s original ecosystem engineers. In December, we published our 2025 environmental improvement plan, and over the next five years, it will accelerate progress towards those Environment Act targets. I gently say to the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Dr Hudson), that some of those targets do not have a baseline. When I was talking to our chief scientific adviser yesterday, I asked how we will meet some of those species targets, and we will have a baseline developed by 2028-29. It is all very well legislating, but it is also about how things are measured. As a former Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, I am all about how we measure it, because that is how the Government are held to account. I want to hold to account myself or any future Minister, whoever it may be.

• 3 Mar 2026 · Environmental Protection and Biodiversity · Hansard source

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  I will not give way, as I want to respond to some of the points that hon. Members made. The hon. Member for Horsham (John Milne) mentioned biodiversity net gain, which became mandatory in February 2024. There is emerging evidence that it is working as intended, and we will publish our response to our consultation on that shortly. Developers are seeking ecological advice earlier in the planning process so that they do not waste money trying to build on precious sites, and they are seeking to avoid biodiversity impacts when choosing between sites. The shadow Minister talked about local nature recovery strategies, as did the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon). The hard work of local authorities to finalise and publish those strategies is bearing fruit. When we came into office, those authorities were not really sure what the strategies were for, so we had to provide a lot of guidance and work with local councils and regional combined authorities to publish 28 of the 48 strategies, with the remainder fast approaching completion. Those strategies will be a new tool in driving action on the ground, and helping partnerships in the public, private and voluntary sectors to work together to focus collective efforts on where they will achieve the most. We will also go further and faster on protected landscapes. My hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Joe Morris) and I saw kids from Newcastle who were out for their first ever walk in his gorgeous Northumberland national park. Making sure that our green spaces are greener, wilder and more accessible is crucial to what we want to do. On species recovery, my hon. Friend the Member for South East Cornwall (Anna Gelderd) talked about the red-billed chough and the tough little Cornish black bee. Bees’ Needs Week is coming up soon, and I urge everyone to go to the website and get their local organisations involved. Kew at Wakehurst will host the prizegiving this year, and I encourage local groups to get involved. Since the early 90s, we have prevented 35 national extinctions through the species recovery programme and supported 1,000 species, such as the fen orchid, the large blue butterfly and the red-billed chough. We are committed to funding that programme—there is a new round of funding until 2029. More than 200 projects have applied, and we will announce the successful ones in May. We talked about beavers, and I was thrilled to visit the National Trust’s Holnicote estate in Somerset for the release of a mother beaver and her two kits last month, which was one of two wild releases in south-west England this year. Beavers bring many benefits: creating havens for other wildlife, improving water quality and reducing the impact of flood and droughts. That is part of our mission to protect and restore nature. On landscape recovery, the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) talked about the vital role of farmers and land managers in creating wildlife-rich environments. The plans for landscape recovery are backed by a down payment of £500 million over the course of this Parliament, which is the lifetime cost for the first tranche of projects coming through in round one. We expect future tranches to be delivered with further funding allocations. That part of the largest nature-friendly farming budget in history goes alongside significant funding for further nature-friendly farming schemes. We heard from the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) that, last year, tree planting in England reached its highest level in over 20 years, but our woodland cover is still too low. We are committed to meet the Environment Act target to increase woodland cover to 16.5% by 2050, and the new national forest in the Ox-Cam arc is going to make his constituents closer to nature. That shows that we can build beautiful housing, a new railway line and new nature alongside each other. This year, we will publish a new trees action plan for England, outlining how we will meet our Environment Act target and improve the resilience and conditions of trees and woodlands nationwide. We have £1 billion for tree planting and forestry sector support over this Parliament, which is the largest investment in nature in our history. My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North (Martin Rhodes) raised the issue of our overseas impacts and the 30 by 30 work. Our overseas territories hold over 90% of the UK’s unique species. We reaffirmed our joint ambition with the territories to protect their ecosystems and launched the first ever co-created overseas territories biodiversity strategy with every territory Government. We have funded 43 new Darwin Plus projects worth over £7.9 million. Nature-based solutions include Saint Helena’s cloud forest, which is providing clean drinking water, the British Virgin Islands mangroves and the Falklands Islands peatlands. We have heard about salt marshes and seagrass, and they are incredible buffers against the increasingly intense storms that are buffeting our ocean. Our ocean is also under threat from acidification and heating, and that is why we are driving to protect marine ecosystems and working for a global plastic pollution treaty. A new chair has been elected for that process, and we look forward to making further progress. We have committed £14 million to eight projects in our ocean grant scheme to support locally led solutions to protect the ocean and the communities who depend on it. In Mozambique, for example, that is supporting local partners to establish a corridor of 20 locally managed marine areas. I am not the Minister for chalk streams, but I want to address them very quickly and say to the hon. Member for West Dorset (Edward Morello) that we will be delivering more than 1,000 targeted actions for chalk stream restoration. I will take his message back to the water Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice (Emma Hardy). On the national policy planning framework, the consultation is still live, and I think we are looking in that consultation to put chalk streams as features of high environmental value into planning policy. We welcome and support the ambition of the curlew action plan. There are many such plans across many of our protected landscapes. I am happy to get the water Minister to meet the hon. Member for Winchester (Dr Chambers). On soils, we have committed to bringing 40% of our agricultural soil into sustainable management by 2028 and increasing that to 60% by 2030. Soil is the foundation of our food system, but also an important part of our climate system. That will be achieved via our environmental management schemes—

• 3 Mar 2026 · Environmental Protection and Biodiversity · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship today, Sir Roger. For anyone who is unaware, I broke my wrist playing beach volleyball; the score was Germany 1, England nil—let us hope that is not repeated at the world cup this year. I thank all colleagues who have sent their good wishes. I begin by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for North East Hertfordshire (Chris Hinchliff) on his excellent opening speech, and I thank other Members for their thoughtful contributions. I am not the water Minister or the oceans Minister, so I will do my best, but if I am unable to reply, we will organise the meetings that Members seek so that they get the answers they deserve. Nature is the monopoly provider of everything we need to exist, and it is our duty to protect and restore it. In my own Coventry constituency, where there is one the poorest and most highly developed wards in the country, there are signs of water voles—Ratty is alive and well. I saw my first ever kingfisher about a mile from Coventry city centre, and there are also otters living in the canal and at Coventry golf club. Nature is all around us if we sit, look and know where to find it.

• 3 Mar 2026 · Environmental Protection and Biodiversity · Hansard source

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  I will just finish my point. Over the next five years, we will improve species abundance, reduce species extinction risk, and restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich land. We are also delivering our international commitment to protect 30% of the UK’s land and sea by 2030, which will help us to tackle the climate and nature crises while supporting growth. We have heard a little about housebuilding versus infrastructure, and the system we inherited was too slow and too fragmented. Across the country, we have more than 164,000 homeless children living in temporary accommodation. In my city of Coventry alone, 2,000 children wake up to that reality every day—we have one of the highest rates of child homelessness outside London. My hon. Friend the Member for Leeds East (Richard Burgon) also has about 800 homeless children in his constituency. Those realities of nature loss and homeless children have a similar root cause: political short-termism and the ducking of big decisions on land use, investment and environmental recovery, leaving the nature and housing crises to deepen. Politics has failed both, and the nature restoration fund can unlock stored housing and infrastructure while still achieving enormous, tangible environment outcomes. We want more for infrastructure and more for nature, not less.

• 11 Feb 2026 · Woodland Creation · Hansard source

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  She is standing in—very good. However, I gently say to her that while trees have a key role to play, we have done six interest rate cuts, and inflation is set to come in on target, so the economic plan certainly seems to be going much better than it was in the days of Liz Truss. Let us talk about woodlands. They stitch our habitats back together, and they provide corridors for our birds, bats and beetles. All Government-funded woodlands must be designed and planted to the UK forestry standard. That world-leading technical standard for sustainable forest creation and management ensures a diverse mix of species, which will not only benefit wildlife but make woodland more resilient to climate change and the ever-changing risks from pests and diseases.

• 11 Feb 2026 · Woodland Creation · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell, and what a lovely debate we have had. It has not been the best part of my week—that was releasing a mother beaver and her three kids on the National Trust’s Holnicote estate in Somerset yesterday—but it has been the second best. We have had a lovely debate, with constructive and thoughtful contributions from many colleagues. Where are we having this debate? In Westminster Hall, which is home to northern Europe’s largest medieval timber roof, built in the 1390s from 650 tonnes of English oak. It was saved from the blitz fires by former Cabinet Minister Walter Elliot, who directed the firefighters to allow the Chamber to burn but, whatever they did, to save that roof. What an amazing piece of foresight that was, and what a piece of foresight it was for Winston Churchill to demand that oaks be chopped down across England ready for the reconstruction of the main Chamber we sit and debate in. And how wonderful it is, for those of us who have had the privilege, to stand at the Dispatch Box, which was a gift from the people of New Zealand. People knew that we needed timber after world war two, and the Commonwealth—the empire, as it was then—stepped forward and stepped up. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North (Chris Curtis) on securing the debate. How lovely it was to hear him talk about the “tree of hope” coming out of the Sycamore Gap tree. Last year, I visited Northumberland to see where the Sycamore Gap tree stood and to hear about the national park’s plans to honour and memorialise it. The power that trees have to speak to us across the centuries and across generations cannot be overstated. It was lovely to hear about the wetland arc in Milton Keynes. I know Bedfordshire well because I taught at Cranfield School of Management for seven happy years. I also did quite a lot of canvassing in a variety of by-elections in Mid Bedfordshire and found some places that I had not known about. The trees and woodlands of England and the United Kingdom are more than just part of the landscape; they are part of our national identity. They filter our air, they cool the cities and they shelter our wildlife. We talked about leafiness and how it was associated with wealth, but when we walk in a city and see a glorious display of cherry blossom, we almost have public art in the street. That display of luxuriance and beauty is there just because it is there; it is not performing any function apart from providing a visual display. It is absolutely glorious to see some of the urban planting going in across our cities, and when I cycle around places, as I often do, I am always thinking, “When they designed this place, what were they thinking about for the future?” It really makes you think about how councils think about their constituents. Trees are part of our shared national culture. They stand as symbols of endurance, wisdom and renewal. In Japan, forest bathing, which my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) talked about, is prescribed by doctors to prevent anxiety, lower stress and help heal depression. I heard about that on a visit to Wakehurst—I recommend a visit—which has done experiments on different tree scents. The Japanese cypress gives off an odour and oils that are a mood enhancer, lifting the mood and clearing the mind, as my hon. Friend said. I think I will steal that idea for the future. Growing up in Coventry, I played every weekend in the War Memorial Park, the city’s great act of remembrance for those we lost in world war one. Every tree has a plaque beneath it remembering the people who died—a living memorial to the lost. As forestry Minister, I regularly see the majesty and benefit of woodlands up close. I met the social enterprise Forests With Impact, launched at His Majesty’s prison Haverigg in Cumbria, which upskills prisoners to grow trees for onward planting. One of the comments from the Ministry of Justice about the prisoners who grow the seeds is that they want to know where the seeds are going. As they imagine their lives on the outside, they want to know where they can visit and say, “I grew that seed,” or, “That might have been a seed that I handled,”. I pay tribute to the last Government for some of the work done in prisons on that intimate connection between environmental justice, social justice and the criminal justice system. I have stood beneath the spruce and pine of Kielder forest with the people who manage it, and I have heard about Forestry England, which is the largest provider of parkrun in the country, with 220,000 people a week running through our national forests. I was of course passionately against the coalition Government’s attempts to try to sell off England’s national forests—that was 16 years ago, but some of us have very long memories. The Government’s plan for change sets out how we are going to build a stronger, fairer, greener Britain, and I gently say to the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth)—I am not sure whether she is standing in or she has had a promotion, but if it is a promotion, then many congratulations.

• 11 Feb 2026 · Woodland Creation · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The redwoods and the cedars are glorious, iconic species that can thrive in incredibly hot weather. They also give us year-round colour, because they do not drop their leaves, so less resource is needed to manage the leaf fall. Forestry England has published a list of 30 priority tree species selected for their ability to withstand extreme weather and resist pests and diseases. Of course, we have to think now about what will be able to survive 30 or 70 years into the future. We have heard about how great trees are in towns and cities. They can reduce urban heat by between 2°C and 8°C, making a huge difference during hot weather. Those are not soft benefits; they are real public goods with real public value. Last year, tree planting in England reached its highest level in over 20 years with 7,000 hectares, or 10,000 football pitches, of new canopy. As we have heard, though, our tree cover is well below average, and we are the second largest net importer of timber in the world. Our environmental improvement plan, published in December, set a new interim tree canopy and woodland cover target that requires a net increase of 43,000 hectares from the 2022 baseline under the previous Government. As I said, we announced the creation of the first new national forest, the western forest, stretching from the Cotswolds to the Mendips—that is really important for flood protection; I was in Somerset yesterday, looking at the fields under water—and spearheaded by the forest of Avon. Some 20 million trees will be planted across the west of England over the next 25 years. Last November, we announced the creation of two more national forests. The second one will be in the Oxford-Cambridge corridor. The expression of interest process for community partners closed on 30 January. I am sure that the forest of Marston Vale will have applied, as will others. I shall remain completely neutral, but I am sure that my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North encouraged that application. We will launch a third new national forest competition, for the midlands or the north of England, by July 2026, so hon. Members should watch out for that. We will see millions of trees bringing peace, shade and joy to people around the country. As we have heard, Milton Keynes has a long history of integrating trees into its living space. We must demonstrate how natural infrastructure can work alongside national infrastructure. It is very disappointing to hear about the A14 and the trees that have died. The tree-planting season is from November to February, and there is plenty of water around at the moment; we should not be planting them in the summertime. Integrating trees into agriculture through agroforestry allows farmers to reap the many benefits that they provide, while maintaining and in some cases improving agricultural output. Our England woodland creation offer is tailored to encourage woodland creation where it is best suited, exemplifying the concept of public money for public good. I will say a final couple of things. First, the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury, asked a specific question about APR and tree planting. I will write to her on that, because I would not want in any way to mislead the House. We do have the woodland creation planning grant, which makes thousands of pounds available to fund the groundwork before the first sapling goes in—the right trees in the right place. Last month, we published the grey squirrel policy statement, saying how we will reduce the grey squirrel’s impact on red squirrels, as well as on our trees and woodland. I will just say that, for many of us, a cheeky grey squirrel—or five—is the only bit of nature we see in our garden, so I am not sure that they will be eradicated from towns and cities, but we need to ensure that we protect and create secure areas for our red squirrels to thrive. We know that forestry supports rural economies, creates green jobs, supplies sustainable material and is important for tourism. We updated the “Timber in construction roadmap” last year, and we committed to planting, harvesting and using more sustainable timber at home. The Department for Education has a really good system for timber-framed buildings. I visited a timber frame production facility called Innovare—just outside Coventry—which told me how quickly it can get in and build these schools and extensions, which is particularly important for children with special educational needs who are very upset by things changing every day. Putting a frame up and then building from the inside out is a really good way to deal with that problem. As a Government, we are supporting the Forestry Commission and University of Cumbria-led three-year paid forestry apprenticeship programme, with 21 apprentices graduating from this degree-level forestry apprenticeship just last November. Our investment in degree-level apprenticeships and training will boost rural employment. Last year, Forest Research, which is part of the Forestry Commission, mapped England’s trees outside woodland by satellite and laser and made the results freely available for the first time. That showed that trees outside our woodlands make up 30% of the nation’s tree cover. I invite people to have a look, to log on and see what trees they have, and to check our satellite mapping; we always need citizen science feedback on all that. Last year, I was honoured to open Forestry England’s newly upgraded seed processing unit in the constituency of the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury, in Delamere forest. The building is timber made and will be net zero carbon in operation. It has been named in honour of a long-serving member of Forestry England’s seed supply team, the late Vernon Stockton. It is the largest in the UK, and it will process cones, fruit and berries from across Great Britain, carefully selected for their genetic potential, each year producing four tonnes of top-quality seed. The forests of the future are being made in the Delamere forest tree seed processing centre. However, we must not neglect public safety. Four months ago, following a Westminster Hall debate in the wake of the tragic death of Chris Hall, I wrote to local councils reminding them of their statutory public safety obligations and highlighted the guidance available to them on how to manage trees safely. To conclude, I commend the work of the Parks Trust in Milton Keynes, and it is great to see a Labour Government, like the one that created that great city, and the Parks Trust carrying on with the great vision of trees, woodlands, parks and gardens close to where people live. At the end of last year, the Secretary of State visited the Parks Trust and heard more about its wetland arc project, which is bringing together local volunteers for community tree planting, increasing nature and climate resilience. As my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North said, we face a nature crisis, but we are not out of solutions yet. Trees are one of our fastest, strongest and most dependable tools. I am pressing the Climate Change Committee and the emissions trading scheme, which is independent of Government, to include the woodland and peatland carbon codes as part of their future emissions trading scheme; they will make a decision on that at some point this year. Tomorrow’s towns and cities must be richer in woodland, smarter in their use of wood and contain woods that are resilient, well designed and well connected. We will plant for the long term, knowing that what we plant today leaves a legacy for tomorrow. I thank everyone who came to this debate, everyone who loves trees and everyone who is out there right now, in the pouring rain, digging and planting these little sticks that will turn into something magical and powerful, creating a greener, fairer Britain.

• 11 Feb 2026 · Woodland Creation · Hansard source

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  We need woodland creation of all types. In 2024, the proportion of conifers being planted went up to 12% of tree planting, from 9% the previous year. We need productive woodlands as part of that. Non-native forests can provide biodiversity benefits and vital seed crops for mammals, red squirrels and birds. We are working towards increasing the rate of conifer planting because, as colleagues have said, its importance to timber in our construction industry cannot be overstated. We aim to publish a new trees action plan in 2026, which will set out how our Government’s £1 billion investment into tree planting and the forestry sector in this Parliament will be used to achieve the new 2030 interim tree cover target and improve the resilience of our trees.

• 11 Feb 2026 · Woodland Creation · Hansard source

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  I am glad the hon. Gentleman has raised that subject, which I was coming on to. Native wild deer are an important component of our landscape, and they play a role in healthy forest ecosystems. However, excessive browsing, foraging and trampling by deer put pressure on woodland ground flora, damage trees, and inhibit the natural regeneration of existing woodland and, crucially, the growth of new trees through natural colonisation. Trees will get on and do it themselves if we just leave them, but they cannot do it if they are constantly being yanked up by deer or grey squirrel populations. We have to manage the impact of deer and grey squirrel populations, and it is our intention to outline plans to do that. We published our squirrel strategy last week, and the deer plan is imminent. We provide grants for capital items such as fencing and for the management of deer by lethal control. That is done through countryside stewardship grant funding where the land manager has been advised by a Forestry Commission deer officer that such action is needed. We are funding projects relating to reducing deer impacts, and I am particularly concerned about the muntjac deer and the Chinese water deer, which are a particular feature of the east of England. They are alien, invasive species, so there are risks about hybridisation with our own native deer. One of the two—I cannot remember which one, but I think it is the muntjac—can breed three times a year, so it is constant breeding. Covid has had a very bad impact on deer management. We do not really have research on deer numbers, but anecdotally they are high, so we need to take action. I am particularly anxious about the east of England, and the steps needed there. I want to say something about the British quality wild venison standard. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) may not have shot a deer, but I have certainly eaten quite a lot of venison. That wild, organic meat is really healthy and plays a part in creating that ecosystem. Some charities, such as the Country Food Trust, are doing really good work in that area.

• 11 Feb 2026 · Woodland Creation · Hansard source

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  We have given some consideration to the question of introducing the lynx. At the moment, they are classed as a dangerous wild animal under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976, and all dangerous wild animals have to be kept in a fenced enclosure. A massive fenced enclosure would be needed for a lynx. At the moment, the policy in the legislation makes it challenging. We need to balance that and work with stakeholders. Like beavers, they are animals that need a range, a habitat and the ability to roam around and breed. The question is: what happens when they breed and produce offspring? One pair of lynxes could end up being eight or 16. What is the management plan going forward? There are certainly some policy wrinkles in that—I will come back to deer, but that would need to be in very large forests with a lot of room to roam. To go back to Kew Gardens, I had the pleasure of spending an hour with Kevin Martin, who is the head of tree collections at Kew. He has been going over to Kazakhstan in central Asia to collect tree seeds and do research on the seeds of the future and what our changing landscape will mean as we have hotter, drier summers and warmer, wetter winters. I also went out with somebody to look at trees, and we looked at this amazing lime tree with all its heavy nectar. He said to me, “For bees, that is like having a meadow in the sky.” Our city trees and the lime trees that grow along the embankment might be a bit of a nightmare from an allergy and pollen point of view, but for the bees of our capital city, and all our great cities, they are meadows in the sky.

• 5 Feb 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We said in our manifesto that we would deliver nine new national river walks—one in every region—to bring nature closer to people and make it accessible to everyone. My hon. Friend paints an amazing picture of the beautiful River Derwent. The first river walk, in the north-west, will be completed in the spring. The locations of the next walks will be subject to a competition later this year. I encourage her and all the partners she mentions to apply.

• 5 Feb 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We have a system. Methane-reducing food products, including seaweed, oils and synthetic products such as Bovaer, are a key tool in reducing emissions from agriculture by up to one third. Bovaer is approved for use in 70 countries, including those in the EU, Switzerland, the US, Canada and Australia. We are building the market for safe, effective options and helping farmers to adopt them. Such products are approved by the Food Standards Agency, and that advice has not been changed. Bovaer has been reviewed by 100 peer-reviewed scientific studies.

• 5 Feb 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The Secretary of State and I have just spent a couple of days in Manchester looking at that with the international science panel on nature. We will report on Monday about how business can do better in tackling those risks. We are bringing the nature and climate debates together, and I am sure there will be time to debate them in the House, subject to your approval, Mr Speaker.

• 5 Feb 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for her tireless campaigning on that disgraceful site. The Environment Agency has served a notice requiring the operator to reduce the risk of smells, and the deadline is 9 February. We expect the operator to comply. If it does not, all options, including suspension and closure, remain on the table.

• 21 Jan 2026 · Antisocial Behaviour on Canals and Rivers: Bath · Hansard source

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  What the hon. Gentleman says is so true. I know from my enjoyment of the Coventry canal running through Foleshill that lots of communities fear canals. They do not think it is a blue space for their recreation. They do not feel ownership of it. The difference between the usership of the canal that runs through Foleshill—through the poorest part of my constituency; the poorest part of the city of Coventry—and the canal that runs through King’s Cross St Pancras, where I have cycled up and down many times, is staggering. Communities can feel ownership or exclusion. Everywhere is safer where everybody feels that they can belong. Unpicking some of those barriers and working with communities that may be typecast, such as young people, is a positive solution, ensuring that people do not want to litter, leave their beer bottles or engage in antisocial behaviour. Having read about this beforehand, it seems to me that there is an issue with stag parties on boats—there certainly has been in the past—which sounds quite tricky. We must also ensure that people have competence, so that if they hire a boat that is supposed to go only 3 or 4 mph, they actually know what they are doing, because they are quite difficult to steer. One does not want to go too fast, as I discovered when I had to have the tiller taken off me when we were going through a very narrow bridge. I am always grateful to have training in these issues. Canals, towpaths and river banks are shared spaces, freely accessible to anyone, and that is absolutely right. They are used by walkers, anglers, joggers and cyclists. As a cyclist, I see antisocial behaviour on canal towpaths. I am very conscious of trying to avoid it—of slowing down and, particularly when tackling bridges, of going super slowly so that there is no unexpected surprise for people who may be wearing headphones. The trust has published its towpath code and encourages all users to be respectful and considerate. Pedestrians have priority, cyclists are urged to slow down, dog walkers should keep their dogs under control—because that is quite tricky—and people are encouraged to take their litter home with them. There are, however, a mindless minority who use canals and towpaths inconsiderately. We have seen instances of fires being lit, littering, fly-tipping, drunken behaviour, loud noise at night from moored boats, speeding boats, blockages on the towpath and out-of-control dogs. The trust works closely with Avon and Somerset police, and Bath and North East Somerset council, to address safety and community concerns. It is engaging to develop the antisocial behaviour action plan that manages the competing demands of waterway users and local residents fairly. We saw an example of that recently in London, where the trust worked with the police to remove an illegal encampment from the River Lea Navigation that had caused significant disruption to the local community and to other boaters nearby. The Government fully support the trust and law enforcement agencies in dealing with antisocial behaviour, and we intend to strengthen the powers available to them to do so. One issue raised this evening is the statutory powers available to the trust to enforce its rules. I have heard the hon. Lady’s concerns that the powers are inadequate and fragmented, and can lead to lengthy and costly enforcement. The trust recognises this challenge. In December 2024 it established an independent boat licensing commission to review its licensing regime. The commission published its report in November 2025, with 36 recommendations to make licensing fairer, simpler, more enforceable and better aligned with the trust’s charitable objectives. It recommended that the trust should: clearly define the navigation requirement for continuous cruising boat licences, to replace the current vague legal requirement for “bone fide navigation”; seek powers to introduce differential charging or rationing for moorings in areas of high congestion; seek powers to use force as a last resort, with safeguards, following a court order to remove a boat from a waterway; have the civil powers to levy fines on licence holders in response to breaches of terms and conditions, and on towpath users for antisocial behaviour such as fly-tipping; have the right to fit a tracking device to any vessel that is not complying with movement requirements, particularly in congested areas; and make the case to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for consolidating the legislation by which the trust operates. The trust is looking at those recommendations, determining which to prioritise, recognising that many will require new or amended legislation that will need wider consultation. Where legislative change may be needed, the Government are ready to support the trust. We are in regular touch with the trust, including through quarterly formal meetings with the CEO and the executive team. We will use our engagement to support them in identifying quick and robust solutions. As an independent charity, the trust makes its own management and operational decisions. Since taking over its statutory duties from British Waterways in 2012, it has received Government support as it establishes its role and builds greater financial independence. The canal network presents a considerable challenge, but the trust has a significant commercial and charitable portfolio. This is a main source of its income, rather than filling shortfalls. Harnessing the diverse uses of the canal network will be vital to maintaining it for the future. The trust has proved to be commercially dynamic, doubling the value of its property endowment from Government, from around £500 million in 2012 to £1 billion today. Last year that endowment provided around £50 million of revenue a year, while boat licences provided around £55 million. The Government currently provide the trust with an annual grant of £52.6 million. That amount represented 22% of the trust’s total income in the last financial year. The grant primarily contributes to the trust’s waterways infrastructure maintenance costs, which, as the hon. Lady says, are considerable but which also keep certain heritage skills alive. I remember that Stanley Ferry up near Wakefield was the site of the last lock gate makers in the country, and their incredible craftwork can be seen on locks across the country—Members might want to look out for their badge when they are next at a canal lock. The Government have agreed to provide the trust with a further 10-year grant of £401 million from April 2027. That will continue to support the trust’s canal infrastructure maintenance, helping to keep the waterways safe and navigable. In closing, I thank all hon. Members for contributing to the debate, and I agree that we must take action to tackle antisocial behaviour, in all its forms, on the canals and towpaths. People deserve to enjoy these blue walkways and amazing places. Who would have believed that it is possible to see a kingfisher on Coventry canal right next to the old Cash’s silkworks, one mile from the heart of Coventry city centre? It was a sight I never thought I would see—my first ever kingfisher. People deserve to live free from nuisance, intimidation and damage to their property and to feel safe in the place they call home. Dignity and respect are not optional extras but the foundations of strong, decent communities that have pride in where they live. We will keep working until every neighbourhood feels safe, including those on the canals in Bath and across the country. The Canal & River Trust is playing its part by working closely with local authorities, police and other agencies to tackle antisocial behaviour on the waterways. It is also working to strengthen and streamline its licensing powers to ensure fairness for all users. We will continue to support this work through grant funding, assisting with any legislative changes that may be necessary. Question put and agreed to .

• 21 Jan 2026 · Antisocial Behaviour on Canals and Rivers: Bath · Hansard source

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  If the hon. Lady were to convene a regular set of meetings—say, quarterly—on this with the police, the local council and the CRT, I have found that the steady drumbeat of local accountability is very effective in bringing these partners together to tackle these issues, alongside the community of users and canal dwellers.

• 21 Jan 2026 · Antisocial Behaviour on Canals and Rivers: Bath · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship this evening, Madam Deputy Speaker. I congratulate the hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) on securing the debate and thank her for raising this important issue. I also thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for his insightful intervention about the canals in Northern Ireland. May I, through my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme (Lee Pitcher), send my sympathies to the parents of the little boy who died in Doncaster? His tragic story is a reminder that a senseless act of vandalism, or what looks and feels like fun in the moment, can have absolutely devastating consequences. It is also a reminder of the need for those responsible for reservoirs and towpaths to have in place a regime that makes sure the safety equipment is always there and properly maintained. I share the concerns of hon. Members and the public about these serious matters. We have heard about significant nuisance to local people and communities that can also involve damage to property, physical threats and even assault. As the hon. Member for Bath said, the cost of living crisis is at the heart of this, because people have been priced out of houses in the gorgeous city of Bath, where there are many second homeowners and Airbnbs. I enjoyed a weekend there with my husband to celebrate our wedding anniversary, and it is lovely—we can feel that it is a very special place—but it may be very hard for people to afford local housing in her city. The Government are committed to tackling this type of antisocial behaviour. We are proposing a range of measures in the Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently in Committee in the other place. Those new powers include a new respect order to ban adult offenders from engaging in specified activities, and increasing the maximum fixed penalty for breaches of a public spaces protection order or a community protection notice, from £100 to £500. As the hon. Member said, and as I know from cycling up and down canal towpaths—slowly, and always dinging my bell twice when behind pedestrians—people living on the waterways are a deterrent against the types of antisocial behaviour that the hon. Member for Strangford mentioned. The natural surveillance of the people living on the boats means there is a huge disincentive to engage in criminal behaviour close to them. As the hon. Member for Bath said, the Canal & River Trust is the responsible authority for the Kennet and Avon canal and the River Avon in Bath. It is aware of the problems and the concerns raised locally. It does not have policing powers, but it is responsible for the safe management both of its land and of waterways. It has policies governing unacceptable behaviour and site management, and those set out the expected conduct and outline when the trust can intervene or escalate issues.

• 15 Jan 2026 · Protection and Management of Young Trees · Hansard source

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  What a pleasure it is to stand in this glorious room panelled with English oak cut down in the wake of world war two to refurbish this great Chamber of democracy, and at this Dispatch Box, a gift from New Zealand crafted from its native puriri wood, which I see every time I stand here. I passionately agree with my hon. Friend’s opening speech. I am so grateful to her for bringing this topic to the House today. Across England, trees and woodlands are more than just part of our landscape; they are intimately woven into our national identity. They cool our air and our cities and shelter our wildlife. Whether it is on a walk through an ancient forest or for a moment beneath a single tree in a city park, trees have a remarkable ability to restore us. They help us with anxiety, grief and loneliness and give us space to breathe. They are woven into our shared national culture. They have stood as symbols of endurance, wisdom and renewal. They are centuries-old sentinels—witnesses to our history. Growing up in Coventry, I played every weekend in Coventry’s War Memorial Park, a great city’s act of remembrance for those we lost in world war one. Every tree has a plaque beneath it remembering the people who died. It is a living memorial to the lost. Our woodlands are places where childhood memories are made and where Christmas strolls and new year’s day walks become traditions, where children climb, and occasionally fall, where dens are made and where dogs are walked—hopefully on a leash. As the Minister with responsibility for forestry, I have the privilege of regularly seeing the majesty and benefits of our woodlands up close, and I reassure my hon. Friend that we are taking the necessary steps to ensure that we have woodlands and trees for the future. Just last year, I opened Forestry England’s Delamere seed processing centre—a net zero building made of timber—which is named after long-serving Forestry England team member Vernon Stockton. The centre will process up to 4 tonnes of high-quality tree seeds, providing the starting point for the forests of the future. I have stood in Kielder forest with the people who manage it. I have visited the Community Forest Trust, which sent me home with two Scots pines and two hornbeams. Three of those trees have survived three London droughts. Of course, back in 2011 I led the fight against the Conservative party proposal to sell off the public forest estate; I am passionate about trees. My hon. Friend is right to list the benefits of trees. Tree-planting in England is at its highest-recorded rate for 20 years—7,000 hectares last year. We will boost that further through our manifesto commitment to create three new national forests. What a privilege it was to plant a tree as part of that establishment. We will plant 20 million trees over the next 25 years to create that new western forest. On Monday, we opened the expressions of interest process for the planned forest in the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor. We will launch the competition for a new national forest in the north or the midlands by July this year. These new forests will bring peace, shade and joy to millions around the country, and the Ox-Cam forest will bring forestry much closer to my hon. Friend’s constituents. As my hon. Friend says, without maintenance in the early years to help establishment of the trees, the impact of the investment can be reduced. That is why the Government fund establishment and provide expertise and advice to keep trees alive. All Government-funded woodland creation must be designed and planted to the UK forestry standard—a world-leading technical standard for sustainable forest creation and management agreed between all four UK nations. At its root is planning and design. Good planning grows strong woodlands and gives our trees the best start in life. Paying for planning is not a cost; it is an investment in resilience. That is why we offer the woodland creation planning grant—thousands of pounds to fund the groundwork before the first sapling goes in. Of course, once they are in the ground, young trees are vulnerable and need maintenance to establish. Maintenance includes checking young trees for disease, replacing dead trees, and sometimes even watering during periods of drought. That is why we also fund ongoing maintenance through the England woodland creation offer. Capital payments cover the planting essentials, followed by £400 per hectare per year for 15 years, to support maintenance tasks that give the trees the best possible chance of survival. We do not rely on planting alone; we back nature’s own hand. Funding for natural colonisation lets woodlands expand organically, allowing species to establish where conditions suit them best. It may appear tatty and scruffy to some, but nature thrives in the mess and wild—it thrives best when we let it go. It is unrealistic to expect 100% survival rates, because that does not happen in nature, as we have seen during recent storms. Last autumn we witnessed a great spectacle of nature: a mast year in which the overproduction of seeds and acorns meant that they blanketed woodland floors. After woodland species have gorged themselves and are ready for winter—the squirrels in my garden are absolutely fat as butter—there is still more than enough intact material to produce the next generation of trees. Nature knows that not every seed is going to make it. We mirror that approach. The schemes that we fund as a Government dictate that trees are planted at a higher density than would be seen in mature woodland, to take into account the natural level of tree mortality. Some trees do die, and some are lost to tree disease—a risk to both established and newly planted trees and woodlands. We have seen what can happen with ash dieback and now with Ips typographus, the eight-toothed spruce bark beetle—that is quite a mouthful. The Government have a robust regulatory regime in place that minimises biosecurity risks from imported material while meeting World Trade Organisation standards. Recipients of many Government grants are required to source trees from suppliers that meet the plant health management standard. Healthy saplings stay healthy because we prevent pathways for harm. My hon. Friend got a book about trees for Christmas. I am the lucky owner of a brand-new almond tree that I got for my birthday, which is going to do battle with the olive and the bay tree. Let’s see what happens—I shall report back next year. Species choice is ever more important in a changing climate. Today’s species and the trees of the past may not thrive in the near future. For example, I have been told that as we have hotter, drier summers and warmer, wetter winters, cherry trees are a species that may not be climate-resilient in the future. Forestry England has published a list of 30 priority tree species selected for ability to withstand extreme weather and resist pests and diseases. It is crucial that those who want to plant trees and create woodlands do so with an eye on the future. I said at the beginning that I agreed with most of what my hon. Friend said. I, too, am furious when I see parched trees lining motorways or streets on new developments where the trees have been left to die. I encourage local people who care about their trees to water them, particularly in the early days and during hot summers. My hon. Friend mentioned the urban tree challenge fund. Like our woodland creation grants, that fund did not simply fund planting; it provided multi-year establishment costs alongside the up-front capital costs. In our urban tree planting grants, we require evidence of good establishment rates, and we withhold payments where that has not been met. That is not always the case for planting that is not funded by Government—for example, on the new housing estate that my hon. Friend talked about, where, despite planning conditions, the same effort towards tree survival is not always made. Developers must do better. Those trees are not decorations; they are an investment that will bring future residents the benefits we have talked about today. Aesthetics cannot take priority over survival. There is a wealth of guidance provided by organisations inside and outside of Government on what the right tree for the right place is, and I urge people to use it. We are improving that guidance. Our Trees Outside Woodland project compared the survival rates of different establishment approaches. That project concluded last year, and the findings are feeding into our grant designs for tree establishment. We have invested over £150,000 to investigate in greater detail the causes of mortality in recently planted trees. That work is ongoing. Of course, we have globally leading science down at Kew Gardens. I had the pleasure of spending an hour with Kevin Martin, the head of tree collections and arboriculture, who has been going over to Kazakhstan in central Asia to collect tree seeds and do the research to work out which trees are going to work in the future. The upcoming tree action plan is being developed in partnership across Government and with the sector, and will emphasise the importance of using best practice. Last year, as part of our procurement changes, we recognised the “grown in Britain” timber standard. We fund tree establishment because it is good government. It is climate security, it is local pride and it is economic sense. We know that great people are working in our community forests. The Forests With Impact programme is working with prisoners at His Majesty’s Prison Haverigg in Cumbria, and 250,000 saplings have been produced there to create the forests of the future. The organisation works with prisoners to ensure that social justice reparations for their crime also offers them a route out of crime and hope for their future when they leave prison. Those young trees will grow into the woodlands we promised—into greener towns, resilient farms and thriving forests. I want to conclude by thanking everyone who loves trees: thank you for believing in the power of trees and in the potential of people, and for your commitment to a greener, fairer Britain. This Government will work with those who love trees, and we look forward to creating and amplifying the impact they make. Question put and agreed to.

• 7 Jan 2026 · Rural Communities · Hansard source

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  I am not giving way, because I have only eight minutes to respond to the debate. The Conservatives’ former Prime Minister explicitly said that there was a deliberate policy of taking money away from deprived inner-city areas and giving it to rural areas. This Government are cleaning up the mess that they made, and we have stabilised the economy. I am sorry that the hon. Member for Winchester (Dr Chambers) is not in his place, because I cycled the 25 miles there from the New Forest during the covid lockdowns. He talked a lot about the 61 bus, but he did not mention anything about the rail fare freeze. His constituents will enjoy the freezing of rail fares, as well as the freezing of prescription charges, £150 off energy bills and the driving up of wages. What did the Conservatives do on each of those issues to help people in rural communities? They voted against each and every one of those measures. They left the health service on its knees, our schools were crumbling and they crashed the economy. We have done more in 18 months than they achieved in 14 miserable years, including delivering cheaper mortgages and new rights for workers, and lifting half a million people out of poverty. I want to come back to bus routes, because under the Conservatives and Lib Dems, bus routes in England declined by 50% after 2010. Some 8,000 services were slashed on their watch. We have taken immediate action through the Bus Services Act, which includes provision to support the socially necessary bus services that are so important in rural areas. I am grateful to have the bus Minister sitting next to me, and we have maintained the national £3 bus fare cap. [ Interruption. ] Members are shouting from a sedentary position, but there was no cap under the Conservative Government. [ Official Report , 12 January 2026; Vol. 778, c. 5WC.](Correction) We heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh) about the problems of rural crime. During the 14 years of Conservative Government the recorded crime rate in rural areas of England and Wales increased by 32%. Our rural communities paid the price for the Tories being asleep on the job, and the 20,000 police officers that they and the Liberal Democrats cut in 2010. We are ensuring that rural communities will be better protected from the scourge of rural crime, such as equipment theft, livestock theft and hare coursing, which we know devastate communities, farming and wildlife. That is why we have collaborated with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Home Office to deliver a renewed rural and wildlife crime strategy, which was published last November. My hon. Friend the Member for South East Cornwall (Anna Gelderd) asked about waste crime, and I have visited the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson) to see the fly-tipping there. We know that waste crime blights our rural communities and undermines legitimate businesses. The last Government let waste gangs and organised crime groups run riot, with incidents rising by 20% in their last five years, but we have announced what are we going to do.

• 7 Jan 2026 · Rural Communities · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to have the opportunity to close this debate. I have to say that even in the deep, bleak midwinter, I do not recognise the gloomy, barren landscape that Conservative Members have been describing. They describe a litany of disasters. If only they had been in government for the last 14 years and been able to do something about them. As I go round our countryside, I see a quite different picture; I see millions of people in rural communities who were taken for granted and underserved by the Conservatives. That is why they kicked the party out at the last general election. We Labour Members are laser-focused on encouraging growth, and Labour is now the party of the countryside. The Conservatives should stop talking the country down and get behind our drive for growth. Let us look at the inheritance that the Conservatives left local communities: broken public services, boarded-up post offices, crumbling schools and sky-high NHS waiting lists. They have learned no lessons, offered no apologies and shown no contrition, and that is why they were booted out of government. They had a Liz Truss mini-Budget that crashed the economy, sending mortgages, rents and bills soaring. And who was the Financial Secretary to the Treasury when food inflation hit 19%? It was the shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

• 7 Jan 2026 · Rural Communities · Hansard source

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  Yes, we are announcing— [ Interruption. ] The Conservatives consulted on changes in 2018.

• 7 Jan 2026 · Rural Communities · Hansard source

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  We are bringing them in this year. We are introducing digital waste tracking—end-to-end tracking. It is going to be operational from April this year; the infrastructure is there. We are introducing mandatory digital waste tracking, reforming the permitting system—a system that was so loose that Oscar the dog could be a waste carrier—and bringing in tougher background checks for people carrying waste. We will also require vehicles transporting waste to display their permit numbers. This was all prepped, planned and consulted on by the Conservatives, but the action is happening under this Labour Government. We have heard a lot of talk about the land use framework. We are going to have to change the way we use land, because our landscapes need to change to support climate change mitigation and adaptation, economic growth, housing delivery, food production and clean energy, and to meet our statutory targets for nature recovery. That land use framework will be published later this year. The right hon. Member for Skipton and Ripon (Sir Julian Smith) talked about “informal” employment relations. I am old enough to remember when the Conservative Government, in coalition with the Lib Dems, abolished the Agricultural Wages Board and the Commission for Rural Communities, and their prime plan for rural prosperity was to sell off the nation’s forests, which was met with uproar in rural communities and was the first U-turn of that coalition Government. As the Minister for forests, I have visited Hexham and stood among the pines, spruce and firs trees of Kielder forest—a landscape bursting with growth, renewal and vitality. I met the men and women who make that possible, and some of the businesses, with my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Joe Morris). We also met innovators at Egger in Hexham, one of Northumberland’s largest rural employers, which turns timber into the panels found in homes and workplaces across the country. We have announced the first new national forest for more than 30 years in Bristol, Swindon and Gloucester in the west of England, and we are not waiting 30 years to announce the next ones. In November last year, we announced the creation of two more national forests. The second will be in the Oxford-Cambridge corridor, and a competition will be launched for a third new national forest in the midlands or the north of England in early 2026. Tens of millions of new trees will be planted in the coming years, alongside the new infrastructure and new homes that this country needs. I want to come to some of the points raised in the debate. I was asked about the Batters review, which had 57 recommendations, by the right hon. Member for Wetherby and Easingwold (Sir Alec Shelbrooke) and my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton South (Mike Reader), who taught me a new word: “yimfy”. Our priority is to get the implementation of this right, and we are considering all the recommendations. We will set out a detailed response to the Batters review in our 25-year farming road map. On firearms licensing, the prevention of future deaths report into the fatal shootings in Plymouth said that there were problems in the firearms licensing scheme. The fees for firearms licensing were last reviewed in 2015, so it is important that the additional revenue from firearms licensing is used to—

• 6 Jan 2026 · River Cherwell: Clearing Illegal Waste · Hansard source

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  I will get back to the hon. Member on that, if I may. The point of a digital waste tracking system is that everything is digitised. The problem has been that it is a paper-based register, so how can people check it at the moment? My understanding is that the move is to a digital system, but I will get back to her. I do not want to mislead her or the House. Perhaps Box officials can enlighten us while I go through the third reform of the waste permit exemptions. Thirdly, there are exemptions for three high-risk areas: end of life vehicles—that is, car scrappage—end of life tyres and scrap metal. Those exemptions have long caused problems and have been abused. We will replace them with a requirement for a full environmental permit for all those activities. We will introduce greater record keeping requirements for all waste exemption holders and impose controls on how exemptions can be managed at one site. At the moment, there are seven waste exemptions: construction waste, preparatory treatments, treatment of waste wood, manual treatment, burning vegetation at the place of production only—that is essentially for farmers—storage in containers and storage in a safe place. As I have mentioned, we have increased the waste crime investigation unit budget. It now has 43 full-time staff. People have often asked me about enabling the Environment Agency to use environmental permit income to tackle waste crime. Rules are set out by the Treasury in “Managing Public Money” about how the income raised by public bodies may be used. These rules ensure transparency to us as parliamentarians and ensure that fees and charges are not set higher than necessary to cover activity that should be properly funded from taxation. We instead look to innovative ideas, and the EA has consulted on the implementation of a 10% levy to generate a further £3.2 million of waste enforcement funding each year. That would enable a further 30% increase in enforcement activity to be targeted at activities identified by the EA as waste crime priorities. Those include tackling organised crime groups, increasing enforcement activity around specific areas of concern such as landfill sites, closing down illegal sites more quickly, using intelligence more effectively and delivering successful major criminal investigations.