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Tree Maintenance: Guidance to Local Authorities
15 October 2025
Lead MP
Esther McVey
Tatton
Con
Responding Minister
Mary Creagh
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Word Count: 3700
Other Contributors: 5
At a Glance
Esther McVey raised concerns about tree maintenance: guidance to local authorities in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.
Key Requests to Government:
Fiona is now campaigning for Chris’s law to require councils to maintain a register of high-risk trees identified by location, species and age, legislating for those trees to be inspected on a regular basis. This targeted approach would present a cost-effective solution.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Lead Contributor
Fiona and Sam Hall's lives were changed forever when Chris Hall was killed by a decayed tree in August 2020. Cheshire East council, responsible for the tree, knew it was unsafe but took no action despite a limb falling off the same tree a year earlier. The council pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £500,000. Since its creation in 2009, Cheshire East council had no formal tree maintenance strategy.
Alex Mayer
Lab
Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard
Alex Mayer questions whether any new guidance should include a focus on early years for young trees in new-build estates, emphasizing the importance of watering and aftercare.
Esther McVey
Cons
Tatton
Invites the Minister to meet her and her constituent to discuss Chris’s law related to tree safety and maintenance.
Jim Shannon
DUP
Strangford
Highlights the difficulty in finding out who owns a tree and the responsibility that comes with it, especially after recent storms. Suggests a system where someone can step in if there is uncertainty about ownership.
Peter Fortune
Con
Bromley and Biggin Hill
Presents Bromley council as an example of best practice in tree planting, with around 5,000 street trees planted over the past five years. Emphasises collaboration with residents and schoolchildren.
Sarah Dyke
LD
Glastonbury and Somerton
Sarah Dyke agrees that proper maintenance is essential but also calls for stronger protections for ancient trees, highlighting the threat to nearly 500 threatened trees in Somerset. Questions the Minister about setting targets for neighbourhood tree cover to ensure equal resilience to flooding and stronger biodiversity in areas with below-average tree canopy cover.
Government Response
Mary Creagh
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Government Response
Mary Creagh expresses her condolences to the Hall family and acknowledges the Health and Safety Executive's role in ensuring public safety. She highlights existing guidance from the National Tree Safety Group on common sense risk management and emphasizes local authorities' responsibility to maintain safe conditions. Commits to encouraging local authorities to follow the National Tree Safety Group guidance on tree risk management and develop tree and woodland strategies. Offers to meet Mrs Hall and Sam Hall to discuss issues further.
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About Westminster Hall Debates
Westminster Hall debates are a chance for MPs to raise important issues affecting their constituents and get a response from a government minister. Unlike Prime Minister's Questions, these debates are more in-depth and collaborative. The MP who secured the debate speaks first, other MPs can contribute, and a minister responds with the government's position.