A417 Missing Link: Environmental Cost
Case reference EIR2025/00135
Received 24 January 2025
Published 13 March 2025
Request
1. To date (24 Jan 25), how many trees have been destroyed or removed by the A417 Missing Link project?
2. What has happened to the trees removed, to date, by the A417 Missing Link project?
3. What is the cost, to date, of removing trees by the A417 Missing Link project?
4. How many trees have been planted, to date, by the A417 Missing Link project?
5. What is the cost, to date, of any tree planting conducted by the A417 Missing Link project?
6. Have any trees planted, to date, by the A417 Missing Link project been sourced from outside the UK and, if so, how many?
7. To date, how much glyphosate has been used by the A417 Missing Link project?
8. To date, what are the total carbon emissions from the A417 Missing Link project?
Response
Information provided
2. What has happened to the trees removed, to date, by the A417 Missing Link project?
They were processed and chipped and either used as biochar production or used for fuel in a local biomass boiler.
3. What is the cost, to date, of removing trees by the A417 Missing Link project?
As of 24th January 2025, £1,858,712.73 has been spent on tree clearance.
5. What is the cost, to date, of any tree planting conducted by the A417 Missing Link project?
As of 24th January 2025, £2,571.58 has been spent on tree planting.
6. Have any trees planted, to date, by the A417 Missing Link project been sourced from outside the UK and, if so, how many?
To date no trees planted have been sourced from outside the UK.
7. To date, how much glyphosate has been used by the A417 Missing Link project?
No Glyphosate has been used to date. When we reach a Maintenance phase on any new planting we will be spot spraying with Glyphosate if required but we will look to avoid this wherever possible.
Information not held
1. To date (24 Jan 25), how many trees have been destroyed or removed by the A417 Missing Link project?
4. How many trees have been planted, to date, by the A417 Missing Link project?
8. To date, what are the total carbon emissions from the A417 Missing Link project?
I can confirm that National Highways does not hold this information, and as such this part of your request has been refused under Regulation 12(4)(a) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 as information not held.
Advice and Assistance
Information regarding the number of tress destroyed or removed by the scheme to date was not recorded during the clearance activities. We do however hold an old tree map which shows over 300 climbable trees were inspected, recorded and compensated for, so we believe that at least 300 trees have been removed to date.
We commenced planting 20,000 trees at the first location in December 2024. As of 24th January 2025 approximately 450 trees and shrubs have been planted there. Over 100,000 trees and shrubs in total will be planted as part of the scheme.
Carbon emission for each month is calculated after the end of each month. The carbon emission for January 2025 is still being calculated. The total carbon emission figure for the project as at the end of December 2024 is 17249.78 tCO2e.
You are welcome to make a new request at a later date for the information that is not yet available.
Documents
This is National Highways' response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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