7 December 2016
The Westminster Government's aspiration to plant 11 million trees a year to increase woodland cover in England is achievable - but the current grants system cannot even deliver 11 million trees in FIVE years.
That was the scathing assessment of Confor's Chief Executive Stuart Goodall when he gave evidence at Westminster to the inquiry into forestry by the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (EFRA) committee.
The long-term ambition to increase woodland cover in England from 10 per cent to 12 per cent was "realistic", said Mr Goodall. He explained that this meant planting around 5000 hectares or roughly 11 million trees every year.
"It's an issue of making sure the appropriate grant scheme is in place - and the grant scheme we have at the moment is not fit for purpose," he added. [Mr Goodall later described the system as "overly complex and bureaucratic" and said quicker decision-making was crucial.]
The state of the grant system meant that the modest target of planting 11 million trees in the lifetime of the 2015-2020 parliament - only one-fifth of the number needed to stay on track for the 2060 aspiration - was certain to be missed.
Mike Seville, Forestry and Woodland Adviser at the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), said: "The aspiration is there but the policy is not there to support it."
Mr Goodall added: "There is a real disconnect between policy and what's going on out there - and has been for the last 20 years." He said the focus in forestry has been limited to narrow environmental outcomes and not on issues such as wood production and employment - and in following that route, opportunities to create modern, mixed woodland of conifers and broadleaves with their benefits for carbon, jobs and wildlife had been missed.
"If we want to hit our targets and achieve our aspiration of 12 per cent forest cover by 2060, we need to be attractive to a variety of different landowners," Mr Goodall told the committee. "For example, we need to look at areas in Northern England where farming is under pressure and where there might be a lot interest in productive mixed forestry."
He agreed with Mike Seville that conifer planting had been "demonised". Mr Seville described this as "a short-sighted and unfortunate" approach which meant the wood processing sector would have a very difficult time sourcing timber from the mid-2030s.
Mr Goodall said the out-dated attitude towards conifer planting was one of two problems encountered when creating large, new productive woodland; the other was inexperience.
"Larger schemes are taking a long time [to get through the grant system] because they include productive planting. The Forestry Commission [and the agencies and bodies who comment on forestry applications] have not handled large productive schemes for a long time." This meant they lacked experience, while the agencies and environmental groups "tend to see large productive schemes as a bad thing."
However, when they took the time to look in detail at impressive new schemes - like the plan for Doddington North Moor, near Wooler, Northumberland - they offered strong support when they could see what was proposed.
Sir William Worsley, Chairman of the National Forest in the East Midlands, said there had to be a change in attitude: "To look at hardwoods as being attractive and softwoods as unattractive and commercial is the wrong way to look at it. Well-managed commercial forestry can be very beautiful."
The EFRA committee questioned other witnesses, including Ian Gambles, Director of England, Forestry Commission, and will produce a detailed report.
The link to the EFRA committee hearing is here with Stuart Goodall on the panel from around 15,49pm.