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<p>A total of c.860,000 trees have been planted across the mainline scheme and National
Highways have spent c.£2m to date. There is a further c.£2m within the original budget
to undertake the necessary work and bring the planting on the scheme into a better
condition.</p><p> </p><p>National Highways conducted a review in the Autumn 2022 to
analyse reasons for tree failures and inform a replanting strategy. This included
analysing soil samples taken along the route to better understand the reasons for
failure.</p><p> </p><p>Based on the lessons learned, National Highways has produced
a replanting strategy which includes:</p><p> </p><ol><li>Replanting with cell grown
trees which have a higher success rate than bare root trees.</li><li>Replanting between
October 2023 and March 2024 which is the optimum planting season and avoids potentially
very dry summer periods.</li><li>Planting the optimum species for the local soil conditions
as soil conditions vary across the scale of the scheme.</li></ol>
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