My Lords, I wish principally to support Amendments 12 and 31, in the name of my noble and right reverend friend Lord Harries of Pentregarth, which are about trees. Before I say something about those, I will say a few words about Amendment 6, in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, and Amendment 10, about light pollution.
I am sure that the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, is right to draw attention in Amendment 6 to the maritime or marine environment, but the terrestrial and the marine aspects are interconnected and, as the noble Viscount, Lord Trenchard, pointed out, there is no need for the amendment. You have only to go to the Isle of May—not very far from Edinburgh, where I am—at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, which is
inhabited by very large numbers of puffins, to see the way in which that interconnection works. At this time of year, puffins come ashore in their thousands, with their beaks full of sand eels, to feed their young in burrows all round the island. These sand eels live in the sea, and they live on other things in the sea. The maritime environment is their environment, but they are caught by feeding seabirds, which of course spend much of their time at sea as well. The interconnection is obvious in places such as that, and I do not see the need for a distinction. But we do need the Minister to confirm that, when he talks about biodiversity, he means both maritime and terrestrial.
As for light pollution, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Taylor of Holbeach, that the summer solstice is a curious time of the year to be talking about it. In my cottage at Craighead in east Perthshire, you can read a newspaper outside at 11 pm. Even at midnight, almost half the sky is still light. We live up in the hills where there is no light pollution at all, and enjoy all the benefits and wonders of the sky where that is true. It is not entirely free of light pollution, because there is a wind farm not far from us which, until recently, had a bright red, winking light warning passing aircraft; it flashed 60 times a minute, right in front of our cottage. We were able to stop it, because there is a condition that required that element of light pollution to be removed by moving to ultraviolet light. This is just a small example of how things can be done by planners who put in the appropriate planning permissions for developments. There is a huge amount of work to do here and, as a bird-watcher, I support very much what the noble Lord, Lord Randall, said about the huge damage done to birds by light pollution, and the enormous loss of life that results to other animals, such as bats, as well.
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Turning to trees, I agree with the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, that trees play a crucial part in our environment and their overall health is important, too. This is not just a matter of climate change but because so many other creatures depend on trees. As they mature, trees attract insects, which, in turn, are a source of food for birds, from tits and treecreepers to woodpeckers; birds and squirrels also nest in them, and they offer shelter and protection. They enhance our landscape and offer much else besides.
However, as the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, pointed out, it should not be just about numbers; the noble Viscount, Lord Trenchard, made this point as well. As important is the question of where the planting is to be done. This was an issue that an HS2 committee on which I sat had to consider. The Woodland Trust, which plays a vital role and is such a source for good in this context, argued that 30 new trees should be planted for every tree taken down along the route. For us, the question was how this request should be met. We felt that it would be unreasonable to direct that farmers who were having to give up their land along the line should have to give up even more land for the planting of new trees. In our view, those who felt that they had room for them—other landowners—should be encouraged to do this instead, with the assistance of funds that are being made available for that purpose.
So, where they go is extremely important, but there is a wider issue: the planting of new trees has to have regard to the effect that this will have on the surrounding environment. A balance needs to be struck. Moorland and meadows have their place too. Where trees are planted, their character and all the ecology that goes with it will be changed. I do hope that the environmental targets that Amendment 31 refers to will take all of that into account. That said, the noble Lord has raised a very important issue about trees which I entirely support.