Ben Lake re-elected as Chair of APPG on Forestry and Tree Planting

The APPG also re-elected four Vice-Chairs - Drew Hendry MP (SNP), Lord Clark (Labour), Lord Colgrain (Conservative) and Lord Carrington, who is a cross-bencher. The SNP's Deidre Brock also joined as a Vice-Chair at the group's Annual General Meeting. 

Ben Lake, who has been Plaid Cymru MP for Ceredigion since June 2017, took over as Chair of the APPG in February 2020. Before his re-election, he told the group: 

"We could never have imagined, when we met in February 2020, that all our other meetings through to April 2021 would be online. 

"However, I have to say that the meetings have been excellent, with really strong content and interaction, and very positive feedback. When we agreed the remit for the group last February, we promised to help tackle two specific issues - to ensure the forestry and wood sector has a secure supply of timber and to ensure that woodlands are managed responsibly.  

"They are two issues we have covered repeatedly in a very coherent set of meetings." 

At the end of the meeting, he said there was a busy time coming up, with the England Tree Action Plan publication imminent, annual tree planting figures due out in June and the implications of the devolved election results in Scotland and Wales. 

"I’m looking forward very much to another exciting year as the Chair of this APPG and continuing to push the importance of forestry and wood in the year of COP26," he added. 

Stuart Goodall, CEO of Confor, which provides secretariat support for the APPG, said: "Ben Lake has been an enthusiastic and excellent APPG Chair, who has repeatedly taken up issues on behalf of the Group with ministers and officials. We are delighted to have him back and I want to personally thank Ben - and all our vice-chairs - for their continued strong support for our sector and the environmental, economic and social benefits it delivers." 

It is hoped that the APPG will be able to hold an in-person event at Westminster by the end of the year. If you would like to receive updates about APPG meetings, please email info@publicaffairs.coop