Emergency forestry summit will be held in wake of planting rates

Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon will chair the meeting of industry leaders in the wake of newly release figures, which show just 8,190 hectares of woodland were created in the country in the 12 months prior to the end of March 2023. 

A sharp fall on the previous year's 10,480 ha, Ms Gougeon called the planting rates "not acceptable" but partly blamed recent winter storms, COVID and Brexit for Scotland's struggles.

READ MORE: Tree-planting rates fall to lowest levels in five years amid Scotland slump

Ms Gougeon said: “Scotland has the most ambitious woodland creation targets in the UK and despite the challenges of Brexit, Covid and vicious winter storms, landowners have created around 51,000 hectares of new woodland in the past five years – around 102 million trees.

“This is a tremendous achievement and I know so many organisations and Scottish Forestry have worked flat out to make this happen.

“It is clear that although Scotland is performing way better than the rest of the UK, our planting rates are not meeting our ambitious targets. Action is needed and both the private and public sector must collectively step up and improve its output.

“We need to dramatically increase the level of woodland creation approvals and improve on the quality of applications being submitted as quite frankly the current status is not acceptable." 

UK-wide planting rates fell to their own lowest levels in half a decade – at just 12,960 ha – but Scotland's performance was a significant factor in this. Both England and Wales saw year-on-year improvements, while Northern Ireland only accounts for a small proportion of annual woodland creation. 

"It’s truly worrying that planting rates have fallen sharply in Scotland when England and Wales have seen a year-on-year increase,” said Stuart Goodall, chief executive of forestry and wood trade body Confor. “Collectively, we have to do much better, and industry stands ready to plant far more trees, to help Scotland on its path to net zero greenhouse gas emissions, and to create jobs and growth in fragile rural economies." 

Meanwhile, Scotland was the only one of the four UK nations to plant more conifers than it did broadleaves - 5,530 ha compared to 2,660 ha. 

Earlier this week, Ms Gougeon unveiled a "delivery action plan" to get planting back on track, which included £1 million to train frontline Scottish Forestry staff. 

She added: "We need to get back on track and tackle the unwelcome dip and kick start a revival to move our planting figures in the right direction.

“The new measures I announced earlier this week signals a determined commitment and investment from the Scottish Government to turn this around, but government cannot do this alone.

“Scottish Forestry has increased its staffing by 20 pre cent and will now invest £1 million to give these new forestry professionals more training to help speed up the woodland creation process." 

According to ministers, Scottish Forestry had approved 11,000 ha worth of applications, however 25 per cent of these projects were either delayed or not taken forward by the landowners.

The main reasons for this 'slippage', which is higher than in previous years, is thought to be around skills and capacity in the sector.  

READ MORE: £1m pledged to train frontline forestry staff in bid to address planting woes

There continues to be very strong demand for woodland creation in Scotland, with over 17,000 hectares already approved for planting over the next three years.

A further 29,000 hectares of Forestry Grant Scheme applications and projects at planning stage are currently being worked on by applicants and Scottish Forestry. 

Mairi Gougeon (Image: Supplied)

“Creating more woodlands is a national joint effort involving landowners, charities, communities and forestry managers," Ms Gougeon added. "I want our summit to bring everyone together to agree additional actions we can all take to take our commitments on woodland creation to the next level, ensure that forestry makes its crucial contribution to tackling climate change, and provide valuable jobs and business opportunities in rural Scotland too.”