Tree planting targets unlikely to be achieved, says watchdog

A government watchdog says a fund that pays for woodland creation schemes on farmland in England is unlikely to achieve its targets and has lowered its prospects for success from an amber rating to red.

It comes as provisional figures show the government has again missed its annual tree-planting goal.

See more: UK still falling short of tree planting targets

In England alone, the aim is to plant 7,500ha a year, but just 3,627ha of new woodland, including on farmland, was established in the past year.

Separately, the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), which assesses the progress of major government schemes, downgraded the rating for the Nature for Climate Fund (NCF).

A red rating signifies that “successful delivery of the project appears to be unachievable”.

It means there are “major issues with project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery, which at this stage do not appear to be manageable or resolvable”. The project “may need re-scoping and/or its overall viability reassessed”.

Defra response

Defra insisted that despite the IPA report, it saw positive engagement from landowners, farmers and the private sector in its funds and that it was “continually refining our approaches’’ to deliver environmental targets.

It suggested it was making “good progress’’ towards its tree-planting targets and that farmers had a “vital role’’ to play in increasing the UK’s tree cover.

“By planting trees, farmers will not only improve their land, enrich biodiversity and the wider environment, but will make a long-term investment in their business while maintaining their farm’s main agricultural output,’’ said its spokesperson.

Defra’s Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme is set to include an offer for in-field agroforestry, which will be available in 2024.

This will pay for silvoarable and silvopastoral agroforestry systems to be established and maintained.

Further details will be announced later this year, but Defra said it planned to take a mixed approach to achieving overall tree-planting goals, combining trees as part of food-producing systems and creating smaller- and larger-scale woodlands.