Memorandum submitted by The Woodland Trust
(X12)
BACKGROUND
1. The Woodland Trust welcomes this opportunity
to respond to the statement of the Minister of Agriculture of
7 December 1999. These comments are delivered on behalf of the
United Kingdom's foremost conservation organisation solely dedicated
to the conservation of native and broadleaved woodland. The Woodland
Trust achieves its purposes through a combination of acquiring
woodland and sites for planting and through wider advocacy of
the importance of protecting ancient woodland, enhancing its biodiversity,
expanding woodland cover and increasing public enjoyment. The
Trust currently owns and manages over 1,030 sites across the country.
2. The Trust wishes to make four key points:
— we welcome the principle of modulation
wholeheartedly;
— we urge that forestry be seen as
a sound example of sustainable development;
— we believe that more careful targeting
of the new resources will be needed to deliver on environmental
as well as other benefits through on-going reform of the Woodland
Grant Scheme;
— we believe that the Farm Woodland
Premium Scheme (FWPS) needs a major review to make it more effective
in terms of delivering the England Forestry strategy.
THE PRINCIPLE
OF MODULATION
3. The acceptance of the principle of modulation
and the UK Government's commitment to match pound for pound money
generated through modulation is to be strongly welcomed. The Woodland
Trust believes that MAFF is right to support a modulation scheme
for England. It provides a significant opportunity for the Government
to re-direct agricultural policy under the CAP according to contemporary
domestic priorities. The opportunity to inject £1.6 billion
over seven years into the rural framework of England is one which
should not be passed over.
4. Whilst it is appreciated that farming
is in a difficult position at present, modulation money channelled
into suitable projects can help to stimulate entrepreneurial opportunities
for forestry and agriculture to become more integrated land uses,
which may not have occurred had the previous subsidy driven systems
continued ad infinitum. Farming is having to adjust to
new demands upon it—the ability to support adaptation through
modulated funds is a timely opportunity that must be taken and
will help to translate Government policy on a new direction for
agriculture into reality. By providing a block of financial aid
which can help to deliver on some of the social and environmental
issues of rural life in England, MAFF has a major opportunity
which should give it confidence to support sustainable examples
of rural development in a bold and imaginative way with relatively
little financial risk.
THE ENVIRONMENTAL,
ECONOMIC AND
SOCIAL VALUE
OF WOODLAND,
THE STRATEGIC
CONTEXT
5. Woodland, above all other semi-natural
habitats within the countryside, offers the opportunity to combine
good environmental, social and economic values into a single land
use and activity. Forestry has a clear strategic direction.[2]
It has a measurable framework for its own sustainability—through
the UK Woodland Assurance Scheme—the certification process
which audits sustainable forest management. It can be a catalyst
for community action as the Trust's Millennium Commission backed
Woods on your Doorstep programme has shown. It can deliver economic
outputs at large and small scale (from pulp to charcoal) with
potential for innovation into new products such as biomass energy
sources. As the richest habitat in terms of biodiversity, ancient
woodland represents a major environmental resource. The presence
or absence of trees and woodland is also widely recognised as
playing a key role in determining people's perceptions of the
quality of their local environment and quality of life. The Trust
would like to see the Minister's statement leading to forestry
and woodland being taken up as a national exemplar of sustainable
development.
6. Sustainable development, is not simply
about achieving economic growth, it also entails the protection
and enhancement of the environment. An enhanced local environment
is increasingly recognised as a key factor in attracting inward
investment in rural as well as urban locations and the Rural Development
Regulation provides a strong opportunity to pursue this theme.
Multi-purpose forestry, which provides a variety of economic,
social and environmental benefits, is especially well placed to
assist in the delivery of this objective. Indeed, the England
Forestry Strategy, of which the Woodland Trust is strongly supportive,
makes clear that the Government sees forestry as being able to
deliver wider policy objectives.
7. The England Forestry Strategy shows how
forestry can be a means towards rural development. Regeneration
through tree planting on restored or under-utilised land can provide
an enhanced environment that will help to attract inward investment.
Tourism and recreation are another key area in which forestry
can contribute towards rural regeneration. The National Forest
is a prime example of a development which is increasingly stimulating
the economy through tourism, employment and encouraging inward
investment.
8. The ministerially led England Forestry
Forum is evidence of the increasing profile of forestry within
MAFF and the new outward looking view that forestry and woodland
has. The Trust urges that increased understanding and promotion
of the role of forestry within the rural environment is sustained,
and that this "Cinderella of land uses" continues to
be adequately recognised in the development of rural policy and
funding programmes. As this committee stated in January 1999:
"While we do not support any further extension of EU responsibility
into forestry we nevertheless recognise its importance in rural
development, farm diversification and environmental policy. The
government should ensure this is reflected in national rural strategy".[3]
FORESTRY AND
THE RURAL
DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The principle of targeting
9. The priority, in the Trust's view, must be
the targeting of limited money to greatest effect whether this
is at a site or landscape level or through generic schemes. The
context of climate change necessitates greater targeting of the
limited resources available towards areas of the countryside which
are most robust to change and where efforts to buffer and link
sites can be achieved most cost effectively.
10. Such a strategy will in practice entail
targeting areas of the countryside, which have the highest density
of ancient semi-natural habitats. Incentives can be targeted particularly
effectively towards the delivery of important environmental objectives
set out in the England Forestry Strategy such as "targeting
grants through the Woodland Grant Scheme to reverse the fragmentation
of existing native woodlands, conserve priority species, and help
with the preparation of management plans for semi-natural woods".[4]
RE-ENERGISING
THE WOODLAND
GRANT SCHEME
AND THE
FARM WOODLAND
PREMIUM SCHEME
11. The Trust welcomes the announcement
made by the Minister that he will "allocate £85 million
for woodlands on farms, and a £22 million increase in the
woodland grant scheme".[5]
There are real opportunities here to address the fragmentation
of our countryside, excessively high levels of imported timber
and the widespread desire to witness an increase in woodland cover—an
aim which all main political parties share but which is far less
of an issue elsewhere in the European Union.
12. The Woodland Trust welcomes the announcement
of a £22 million increase in the Woodland Grant Scheme over
the next seven years of the RDR. This is a modest increase but
nonetheless a most welcome one. However, if the aim of reversing
the fragmentation of existing native woodlands and to help prepare
management plans is to be achieved there must be a commitment
to continued strengthening and reform of the scheme, which has
already begun with the announcement of consultation over a new
scoring system to prioritise grant applications.[6]
The Trust hopes that the increase announced by the Minister will
build a foundation for further increases in the scheme in the
future.
13. MAFF's intention to continue the Farm
Woodland Premium Scheme (FPWS) confirmed in the Rural Development
Plan[7]
and the commitment of £85 million for farm woodlands is also
welcome, particularly in the light of the 15 year time frame over
which the FWPS operates and the fact that modulation money is
only available in its current form until 2006. This is an important
tool in increasing woodland cover in England. However there are
some important changes which should be made to ensure that the
scheme fulfils its considerable potential to ensure that genuine
woodland expansion takes place and that the scheme is rendered
more attractive to a wider range of interests. It is disappointing
that the Minister did not use his statement or the publication
of the actual plan to instigate a wider review of this scheme
14. FWPS should be strengthened through careful
targeting in areas where it can contribute most effectively to
the delivery of the England Forestry Strategy, and to the statement
of the Forestry Minister for England in the preface to that strategy
that "we will encourage the creation of new woodlands
where they are most needed".[8]
15. It is particularly crucial that the
maximum quota ceiling of 200 ha per farm business is removed.
This has the effect of undermining seriously the ability of organisations
such as The Woodland Trust to create large areas of new native
woodland in conjunction with the objectives of the England Forestry
Strategy that we enthusiastically endorse. This problem is also
likely to be reflected in other large estates where there is an
enthusiasm for woodland creation.
16. The move to create local markets for
local timber at a regional level is to be welcomed. The South
East section of the Rural Development Plan indicates that this
is a key priority.[9]
New local markets will help to reinvigorate the forestry sector,
which, in conjunction with the Woodland Grant Scheme and the Farm
Woodland Premium Scheme, will provide a sustainable basis for
the regeneration of rural forestry.
OTHER MEASURES
17. The Trust also hopes that forestry activity
will receive its due share of support from the Processing and
Marketing Grant Scheme, the Rural Enterprise Scheme, and Training
Scheme.
18. Targeting of grants to promote the establishment
and encouragement of inward investment for medium scale energy
plants which can draw supplies from the local area through short
rotation coppice and other energy crop measures is to be welcomed.
These should seek to ensure that practice and location maximise
gain for the outcomes identified within the England Forestry Strategy.
However, industrial processing and power station developments
should be subject to strict Environmental Impact Assessments and
strict environmental controls. There is a need for such projects
to be measured against sustainability criteria such as the UK
sustainable development indicators published towards the end of
last year.[10]
CONCLUSION
19. The Woodland Trust broadly welcomes
the Minister's announcement. The principle of using modulation
to increase rural woodland area is a very positive step forward
that will serve to deliver a unique variety of benefits. However,
the Trust emphasises the need for reform of the WGS and FWPS in
order that the stated aims of the government's widely welcomed
England Forestry Strategy may be achieved. It is essential that
an integrated approach is taken with WGS and FWPS complementing
the RDP as a whole in order to provide significant steps forward
in the promotion of forestry as a key driver in rural regeneration.
2 England Forestry Strategy: A new Focus for England's
Woodlands (Forestry Commission, 1998). Back
3
House of Commons Agriculture Committee, second report, CAP
Reform: Rural Development. Volume 1, p xviii (January 1999). Back
4
Ibid, p 26. Back
5
Hansard 7 December column 702. Back
6
Forestry Commission Press Release No 2668 New Arrangements
for Planting Applications in England (20 January 2000). Back
7
England Rural Development Plan (MAFF, 2000). Back
8
Ibid, Preface (Forestry Commission, 1998). Back
9
England Rural Development Plan-South East Region, p 91
(MAFF, 2000). Back
10
Quality of Life Counts: Indicators for a strategy for sustainable
development in the United Kingdom: a baseline assessment (DETR
1999). Back
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