I secured a Parliamentary Adjournment Debate yesterday to discuss the risks posed to urban trees.

Our street trees bring so many health and ecological benefits to our communities and are vital in the fight against climate change, but sadly the current protections in law aren’t enough.

It’s an issue I know many of my constituents in Hornsey and Wood Green are extremely worried about. The Government claims to care about improving access to green space and urban woodlands, but it is failing to meet its own paltry tree planting targets. Trees and woodlands in both rural and urban areas must be protected if we are to have any hope of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.

Yet so many trees in my constituency are at risk from being cut down because they are implicated as a potential cause of subsidence to a nearby property. Under the current law, tree roots do not even need to be the definitive cause of subsidence for the tree owner to be liable for the cost of repair works to the property. I have long been calling for the Government to provide detailed and robust guidance to councils and the insurance sector which emphasises the need to protect our precious trees wherever possible.

Read my speech and the Minister’s response on Hansard here or watch my speech here:

Following my Parliamentary debate, Cllr Mike Hakata, Haringey’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Climate Action and I have written jointly to the Secretary of State to set out the action we’d like to see to protect our trees.

Read our letter here:

On 28 June, I received a response from the Minister which you can view here.