Parliamentary group shines light on Government planting targets

A majority of those present thought England should set its own target of 7500 hectares of new woodland per year by 2025, although around one-third thought it should be more ambitious and aim for 10,000 hectares. Caroline Ayre, Confor's National Manager for England, thought 7,500 hectares was achievable and it was vital that all parts of the UK had clear targets to support the overall 30,000 hectare ambition. 

"This is a huge challenge and is unprecedented in recent history - but we believe it is achievable if the Government works constructively with the forestry industry," she said.

She called for an urgent Mackinnon-style review of planting application and approval processes for England: "We know what needs to change, but it needs to be independent. The Mackinnon view was short and sharp and gave clear recommendations which would be very useful in England."

"You wouldn't talk about agriculture without talking about food production but I hear continuously about tree planting with absolutely no mention of management and wood production," he said. "It drives me a little bit potty.

"Tree planting is important but it's only step 1; we must talk about step 2, management, and step 3, harvesting. Without steps 2 and 3, tree planting will not contribute significantly to CO2 reduction targets; in fact without management, it's unlikely to produce any kind of meaningful woodland at all. Over-stocked, stunted, deer-chewed, squirrel-stripped trees achieve nothing and in many cases, will not survive to middle age."

He added: "Claiming that planting trees alone will solve our climate problem is nonsense and those in positions of trust and power should stop peddling this misinformation. Trees can do many things, but on their own cannot absorb our greenhouse gases problem away." Potentially a much bigger win was growing, managing and using more timber to substitute high-energy materials like concrete, steel and plastic, he argued

Caroline Ayre said: "Too much of our tree planting over the last 30 years has been woodland which will never produce wood. It delivers no income stream and is left to the mercy of threats of deer and grey squirrels, without the management young woodland needs to thrive."

She said the UK Forest Standard (UKFS) was one of the highest-quality global standards for forestry - but it was still difficult to get approval for strong woodland applications that met the UKFS. "Why should we import wood from countries that might have lower sustainability standards than us?" she asked. She concluded by saying: "Let's get everyone around the table so we can agree which part of the UK is doing what - and build on the positivity to plant."

Lord Carrington, APPG Vice-Chair, said greater clarity was needed very quickly on support from the Environmental Land Management scheme (ELMs) if farmers and landowners were to plant trees. He said it was "absolutely unacceptable" that pilots were only just starting and clarity might not be there until 2024. Farmers wouldn't plant trees until they knew the financial implications, he stressed. Edward Barker said incentives would be available earlier, while Caroline Ayre said the key point was "normalising forestry and woodland creation in farming operations". She said: "We need an integrated land managment approach."

Ben Lake MP, Chair of the APPG on Forestry and Tree Planting, concluded: "It’s starting to feel there is real willpower to plant many more trees. We need to keep up the momentum and start taking actions to allow new planting to happen at scale - whether that is a Mackinnon-style review of rules and regulations in England and Wales, agreed targets, and greater cooperation, across all parts of the UK or more resources for the agencies to make planting happen. In truth, we need all these actions and more - but I'm optimistic we are moving in the right direction."