Study calls for more tree planting in Wales
A report on woodland creation has been described as “a shot in the arm” for the £500m forestry and timber industry in Wales.
Branching out: A new ambition for woodland policies was launched at the Royal Welsh Show by the Welsh Assembly’s Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee.
Martin Bishop, Wales manager for forestry industry body Confor, said: “This report is a shot in the arm for the industry, which delivers half a billion pounds of annual value to the Welsh economy.
“It recognises Wales is missing an enormous range of economic, environmental and community benefits delivered by not planting enough trees and sets out a clear plan of action to put things right. It is a blueprint for a greener future.
“The first recommendation delivers the central message forestry and timber businesses have been waiting for – more tree planting and especially more commercial tree planting, to provide the raw material to drive the rural economy forward.”
Josh Sambrook-Jones of Clifford Jones Timber Group, said: “We are constantly looking at ways of diversifying so we get the maximum from the timber we bring through the gates, but it is in increasingly short supply due to a lack of investment [in tree planting] since the 1990s.
“There is a huge market for our timber and every sawmill in Wales could double or treble production if the timber was there.”
Earlier this year, Clifford Jones highlighted that just 100 hectares (250 acres) of new woodland was planted in Wales in 2016 against a target of 2,000 hectares a year, and warned jobs would be lost unless tree planting increased dramatically.
Mr Bishop added: “Confor has highlighted the fall in woodland creation over the past 20-30 years and the damage this will continue to cause [to] jobs and investment in rural Wales. In that context, the emphasis on ‘significantly’ increasing planting rates and the mention of long-term targets in the report is very welcome.”
The report calls on the Welsh Government to address the barriers to increasing planting by linking up regulation and funding more effectively and “providing additional guidance and support to applicants”.
It also calls for consideration of “a presumption of approval for applications in areas identified by the Woodland Opportunities Map as having a high suitability for woodland.”
Confor also welcomed the report’s recognition of the wider benefits of forestry – with a call for the Welsh Government to specify how it will use trees and woodlands as a [green] solution to flooding and to expand the Woodland Carbon Code.