§ Mr. Hardyasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the loss of ancient broadleaved woodlands over the last 30 years; and to what extent new plantings have compensated for this loss.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThere is no later information about losses of ancient broadleaved woodlands than was provided in the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Mr. Carlisle) on 20 February 1984 at column365.
Much new planting of woodlands has taken place over the past, 30 years. In the past 10 years alone, there have been 13,600 hectares of new broadleaved planting and restocking by the Forestry Commission and by the private sector with grant aid from the commission. This figure does not take account of compensation of losses by natural regeneration, nor of amenity tree planting grant-aided by the Countryside Commission.