Member

It is a delight, in speaking to this amendment, to have not just my noble friend on the Front Bench but the Minister, the noble Lord, Lord Hendy, responding on behalf of the Government. It takes me back to the halcyon days of City Hall. I am sure that the noble Baroness, Lady Pidgeon, will agree that they certainly were halcyon days under the previous mayor—I apologise to the Chief Whip. Back then, the Minister was running TfL, which has thousands of street trees on its road network, and the mayor, who TfL supported, delivered many more thousands of street trees. We did that along with partners, but also with local authorities and businesses, to improve local environments, help improve air quality and cool areas, and, ultimately, brighten areas up. It was not imposed; it was bottom-up, because people wanted trees in their areas.