Chief 'confident' Forestry England will meet tree-planting target

MPs last month told how the government agency has only planted 303 hectares out of the intended 2,000 between 2021 and 2026, despite this being crucial to a key manifesto commitment on tree planting. 

Members of the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) accused FE of "not playing its part in meeting the national tree-planting target", and said it "must take decisive action and develop a clear delivery plan to meet" this goal. 

READ MORE: Timber trade woes report must be 'watershed moment'

However, Mike Seddon, FE's chief executive, has defended the organisation's ambitions, and said a recent change – which allows it to purchase land for woodland creation – will go some way to addressing its performance. 

Speaking to Forestry Journal, he said: “I am confident that Forestry England will meet, and likely exceed, our woodland creation target. We have a dedicated national team working with local colleagues totally focused on achieving that. 

“Our biggest challenge is that we have already planted all available land within the nation’s forests, so we must lease or buy land to expand them. 

"This is why we developed Forestry England Woodland Partnership, funded by the Nature For Climate Fund (NCF), that opened in 2021. 

Mike Seddon (Image: Supplied/Forestry England)

"In the beginning, the partnership was only to lease land. Finding private and public landowners that might want to lease us land was always going to take time, so we expected a gentle start. 

“As the report explains, with evidence from Minister [Trudy] Harrison and the Forestry Commission chair, Sir William Worsley, we can now buy land too. This quickly led to us announcing a new 220-hectare woodland in the East Midlands in May 2023 that also became the first Coronation Wood to commemorate the Coronation of King Charles III. 

“We are committed to playing our part towards the country’s woodland creation ambitions. We are creating new woodlands that will produce timber, help tackle the biodiversity crisis and be places for people to enjoy for decades to come.”

Contained within a report at the end of a year-long inquiry into the UK's timber trade, the organisation's ability to ensure the nation's woodlands match the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) was also questioned by the cross-party group of politicians.  

MPs wrote: "The UKFS underpins regulation of the sustainability of the nation’s forests and plays an important role in ensuring that renewed efforts to increase timber supply do not repeat the mistakes of the past. 

READ MORE: 'Little evidence' of clear vision for UK's timber industry

"Yet the existence of the standard is not proof that the nation’s forests are being managed sustainably. 

Philip Dunne MP, chair of the EAC, was critical of the UK's current policy on the timber trade (Image: Newsquest)

"We are concerned by reports that compliance with this important standard is not being monitored throughout the lifetime of England’s forests and reports that Forestry England lacks labour resource to carry out routine monitoring. "Without regular monitoring, Forestry England cannot be sure that forests are being managed sustainably to the UKFS beyond the establishment phase."

However, Mike outlined that it is "not the case" that FE is responsible for the compliance of other public and private woodland. 

“Our long-term experience and professionalism in land management means we continue to meet the UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS) and we are independently audited to keep this and our FSC and PEFC certification," he said. "The report suggests that we are responsible for monitoring compliance of other public and private land against UKWAS, but this is not the case.”