Feedback Superwood conference

POSITIVES

• There is a much more positive climate for afforestation - and a much more unified forestry and wood voice across (and beyond) the sector; we are starting to break down silos;
  
  
• Variety of groups on the same page - 'big umbrella' of support. Good to see Woodland Trust recognise groups have different primary objectives but common long-term goals (such as combating climate change);
  
  
• Identification of climate change as the common driver by wide range of stakeholders - can drive woodland creation, better management and more sustainable housing development;* Greater support for presumption that we should look to plant trees, not look for reasons why we shouldn't;
  
  
• Important to have access to different people at events like this, especially chance to meet non-foresters;
  
  
• Politicians at event were very positive and well-informed - refreshing that they seemed to understand the sector and the issues affecting it;
  
  
• Positive that Forestry Commission has identified land to plant; positive shared agreement to do more opportunity mapping to find right areas to plant;
  
  
• Peri-urban and greenbelt schemes [and Northern Forest] good for the region;
  
  
• Payment for public goods principle is good for the sector;
  
  
• Recognition of need to address hearts and minds (and a desire to work together to do this) -  needs long-term, continuous engagement;
  
  
• Important to nail the myth of poor-quality British timber - and important to understand that we don’t need to over-specify;
  
  
• Strong market for wood products in the UK [being the 2nd biggest net importer of timber products in the world presents an opportunity];
  
  
• Modern methods of timber construction becoming more mainstream - good examples on the day; stories about wood-first culture in Canada provides hope;
  
  
• Great to hear about carbon-negative buildings;
  
  
• Great to have strong student representation and students from different unis mixing;

BARRIERS

• Too little disagreement in the room. Similarity of opinions could be seen as a weakness - more challenge needed from farming community/National Park; lots of proactive people in the room - lots more who are not proactive outside it;
  
  
• Absence of NFU/National Park/Natural England representatives [they were all asked]; farmers still broadly negative about trees, National Park has anti-forest mentality;
  
  
• Difficult to drive up tree planting if so many designations in place - some of questionable quality? Real challenge in planting/harvesting lots more trees in North East at the moment;
  
  
• Planning authorities in England don’t have forestry plans/need greater cooperation between local authorities and Forestry Commission;
  
  
• Hard to get people to agree to landscape change - no strong policy in place to address this. Needs strong political will;
  
  
• Red tape/legislation still gets in the way - tortuous process that puts people off in the first place; no consistency of response from different officers to applications to plant;
  
  
• Still need to move much more towards presumption to plant trees/build with wood; we are a long way from having a wood culture that the public understands and connects with; biggest challenge is getting people to understand the extent of change needed and take a long-term view;
  
  
• Strong planting in Scotland; 'wood first' policy in places like Hackney is good, but not widespread;
  
  
• Lack of available land that is suitable for planting and competing demands, including housing; cost of land is a real barrier and can make planting unattractive;
  
  
• Forestry still has real ‘historical baggage’ and legislators are ‘archaic’;
  
  
• Need to tackle fragmentation of sector - need growers and processors together;
  
  
• Need to be more positive about urban trees;
  
  
• So many opportunities to use timber but do we have enough of it? Must increase and maximise what we get from existing sites; we are not accessing forest resource properly, despite high timber price;
  
  
• Need to get larger housebuilders to consider timber - make economics more favourable;
  
  
• No discussion about using hardwoods as commercial building material;
  
  
• Ageing workforce/recruitment challenges/skills shortages  - need more contractors, etc, in the room, need more skilled people in industry to implement targets and policy;
  
  
• Cashflow challenges - need consultation with farmers when they are looking to plant and to make a clear and convincing economic case;