The UK Forestry Minister pledged to drive up productive planting and to “slash the time it takes to plant a tree” at a major policy conference last week.
Trudy Harrison told the Confor event: “We want more timber in construction to build homes across the UK and to do that, we really need more conifers."
She described the fact that the UK grew less than 20 per cent of the wood it used as “unacceptable” and said she wanted to work with the industry to tackle this and use more home-grown timber, to help tackle climate change and support rural jobs.
READ MORE: Is forestry finally being taken seriously in the UK?
“The manifesto commitment is well-known - to plant 30,000 hectares of new woodland every year [during the lifetime of the current parliament] - but we are still woefully short,” she said. “We are serious about forestry and timber and about hitting the planting target."
Reducing bureaucracy was vital, the minister said. She added: “I want to slash the time it takes to plant a tree. I hear horrific stories. I want to take a chainsaw to the time it takes to plant a tree."
Later, Richard Stanford, Forestry Commission chief executive, pledged to get rid of unnecessary regulation. The double consultation on planting schemes was “nuts”, he said, and he also called for the time given to statutory consultees to comment on planting schemes to be reduced to 28 days in line with the planning system.
As we have previously reported, Richard also called for an end to the "dogma" around conifers and said the UK should take timber security as seriously as it does food security.
Elsewhere, Climate Change Committee chair Lord Deben said forestry and wood had a "remarkable future" - and urged the industry to grasp the opportunity.
Mike Childs of Friends of the Earth (FoE), who co-wrote FoE’s report Why The UK Needs More Trees, also called for greater collaboration. “There are a myriad of reasons for us to be more ambitious about planting trees - and that includes being much more ambitious about what the productive timber industry can do,” said Mr Childs.
The conference heard about plans for a National Wood Strategy for England, to be completed by March 2023.
READ MORE: Forestry Commission chief calls for end to 'dogma around conifers'
David Robertson, Scottish Woodlands director of Business Development and Investment, said: “The conference heard a unified vision to plant much more productive forestry to deliver a wide range of environmental and economic benefits."
Forestry Journal will have an in-depth report on the conference in a future edition and across our online channels
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here