Labour government 'shares goals' with forestry and wood industry | Policy Conference 2025

Forestry Commission CEO Richard Stanford said the industry was well-positioned to support all the Government's main missions, and what it delivered mapped very clearly to all Environment Secretary Steve Reed’s 5 goals - including moving to a zero-carbon economy, supporting nature recovery and reducing flood risks.

At the end of the conference, Confor Chair Lord Duncan said conditions were ripe for the forestry and wood industry to find that alignment with Government objectives. “This is our Goldilocks moment,” he said. “Conditions are just right - we are in the right place at the right time and forestry is the answer to so many questions.

“We need to make sure the sector is heard - now - because we need to get it right now, not in 20 or 30 years.”

The need to use more timber in construction was a recurring theme, and Paul Brannen - author of Timber! How Wood Can can help save the world from climate breakdown - warned the 1.5 million new homes Labour had to be built in a very different way to the last 1.5 million. This meant far greater use of timber, and less steel and concrete, he said.

Mr Brannen described concrete as “the most destructive material in the world” and said it was responsible for 8% of the world’s carbon emissions. The need to use more timber was highly persuasive, he argued, because planting productive forestry and then harvesting and using the wood offered a triple-S benefit - sequestration (of carbon by growing trees), storage (of carbon in wood products) and substitution (of more carbon-intensive materials like concrete and steel).

Alex Goodfellow, CEO of Donaldson Offsite, said the housing market was clearly moving towards greater use of wood, but needed further support at Government level.

“We've got a tried and tested sector here,” he said. “Give our industry some endorsement, put 'embedded carbon' into building regulations, and let us make it work. Of all homes built in England this year, around 50% have been constructed by businesses who have a timber frame arm of their organisation, or are building one. The market has already decided [to move onwards to greater use of timber construction] and is showing the direction of travel.”

The Timber in Construction Roadmap would articulate the solution clearly, Mr Goodfellow said, with pledges to improve data used by the industry, to promote the safe and sustainable use of timber in construction, increase skills capacity - and increase the sustainable supply of timber.

He admitted it would be very tough to meet the 1.5 million new homes target, but added: “Even if we can’t do it, we can have a bloody good lash at it.”

Stuart Goodall emphasised the need for Ministers to work with the industry closely and constructively and the potential that can come from doing that, with the message that “Ministers Matter”.

“We are a very highly regulated industry,” he said. “You can’t plant a tree or fell a tree without Government approval, and Government will govern how you manage your woodland through the UKFS. I can’t think of another sector where there is so much power over the long-term success of the industry in the hands of ministers and officials.”

Stuart highlighted the net loss of conifers under Conservative governments between 2010 and 2024 - around 37,000 hectares - as a stark example of the “huge impact of government decisions” on the sector, especially when a crucial part of the policy – compensatory planting, had failed to happen.

Mr Goodall noted that there had been a positive shift in support for the industry in the later years of Conservative rule – bringing some balance back into policy – and called for continuity of that balanced policy to breed industry confidence.  “We need strong, clear political support, a stable operating environment and secure funding for woodland creation, and for sustainable management of our existing woodland,” he added.

If the government was able to offer this, the forestry and wood sector could offer a huge amount in return, Mr Goodall said. This could include economic growth and jobs, progress to net zero through carbon sequestration and storage (by trees and wood products), as well as low-carbon homes and support for nature recovery.

But he warned that blockages had to be overcome. “We have to change the narrative from demand for home-grown timber going up significantly - and timber supply falling in the medium term, to one of action. There’s a big prize there that we’re inching towards and we have to pick up the pace!”.