To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs what action he is considering to reinstate trees, woods and hedgerows that have been lost due to countryside planning developments such as roads and windfarms.

The Department for Infrastructure has responsibility for the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 within which removal of trees for planned development or conditions attached to their removal are considered.

My Department provides grant aid for tree planting to create new woodland through the Forest Expansion Scheme which I have recently modified to further encourage more trees. In particular, I have reduced the minimum threshold for eligibility to the grant scheme which has seen a very positive response, approximately doubling the number of applications this year. Additionally, I launched a new Small Woodland Grant Scheme in December 2020 which is designed to complement existing holdings by providing support to plant native woodland. My department also operates an Environmental Farming Scheme which encourages planting trees and shrubs on farms through grant aid to support planting native trees in woodland, hedgerows, tree enhanced boundaries and riparian buffers.

These incentives for tree planting will contribute to the ‘Forests for Our Future’ programme, which aims to plant 18 million trees over the next decade; and is one of the foundation initiatives of the Executive’s Green Growth strategy being developed by my department.