Jen Craft

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North (Chris Curtis) on securing the debate. Like many Members, I am a lover of woodlands, both ancient and new. As my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) said earlier, “You can’t have too much of a good thing”, and the creation of new woodlands—and the Government’s ambition to do so—should be celebrated. Just adjacent to my constituency, we have a 400-acre site that mixes ancient woodland with relatively new parkland. The old favourites of oak, ash and thorn are around the place, and I have spent many hours walking in those woodlands, greeting ancient oak trees as old friends. I am a self-confessed tree-hugger—I literally will hug a tree—and there is something to be said for the calmness that this brings; the understanding that we are feeling sometimes centuries of life coursing beneath our fingers. I strongly support the transfer of that from one generation to the next. Our woodlands are a key feature in the protection and preservation of wildlife. They support creatures big and small, and knowing and naming those creatures is a pure joy for anyone who is, like myself, a keen amateur naturalist. I remember hearing a nightingale in our local woodlands, which was the real highlight of a walk. Sadly, as Members will be aware, that is a vanishingly rare thing to hear and see. Supporting the creation of woodlands will ensure that we keep these native creatures for generations to come.