Written question asked by Rachael Maskell (Labour) on Tuesday, 6 January 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 8 January 2026. It was answered by Emma Hardy (Labour) on Tuesday, 13 January 2026 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Flood Control

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps is she taking to encourage planting to manage water in the upper catchments.

Answer

Defra promotes tree planting in upper catchments to enhance the water environment, supported by a suite of targeted grants including the England Woodland Creation Offer, the Environment Agency’s (EA) Natural Flood Management Programme, and wider Environmental Land Management schemes such as Landscape Recovery and Countryside Stewardship. Defra is also supporting delivery of the Water Environment Improvement Fund, Water Restoration Fund and Local Nature Recovery Strategies to ensure action is directed where it delivers the greatest water quality, flood resilience, and biodiversity benefits.

Looking ahead, the EA will be scaling up investment in natural flood management interventions, including tree planting, through the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management investment programme that starts in April. This has been enabled by the Government’s updated flood funding rules with a commitment to direct at least 3% of the FCERM programme spend to standalone NFM in the first four years and 4% over a ten-year period.

Together, these initiatives contribute directly to the Environmental Improvement Plan’s commitments on increasing tree cover, improving water quality, and strengthening flood mitigation.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 103322
Session: 2024-26
Subjects: Flood control
Link: View this Written question on www.parliament.uk

Flood Control

Secondary information

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