Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Written Evidence


Memorandum submitted by the Forestry Commission (Appendix 16)

INTRODUCTION

  1.  This memorandum sets out the views of the Forestry Commission on the draft Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  2.  The Forestry Commission welcomes the draft Bill and looks forward to developing a close partnership with the new Integrated Agency and the Commission for Rural Communities. It is important, however, that the functions of the Integrated Agency in particular must be distinctive from the roles of its major partners—the Environment Agency and the Forestry Commission—and must give the Integrated Agency a clear focus and direction. We also welcome the proposals in the Bill to give the Secretary of State powers of delegation to delivery bodies, and for such bodies to delegate to one another, in all cases by mutual consent. This will allow a degree of flexibility to rationalise delivery.

STATUS, FUNCTIONS AND ORGANISATION OF THE FORESTRY COMMISSION

  3.  The Forestry Commission is the non-ministerial government department responsible for advising on and implementing forestry policy in Great Britain. It is a cross-border public authority responsible separately to Ministers in England, Scotland and Wales and collectively on GB functions. Forestry is a devolved matter, and in England the Commission reports to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The Commission is headed by a Board of Commissioners, whose principal duties and powers are defined in the Forestry Acts 1967 and 1979.

  4.  The Commission manages the public forest estates in each country, offers grants for expanding, regenerating and managing forests and regulates tree felling. It also provides advice to Ministers, undertakes and commissions research, sets standards for good forestry practice and protects Britain's forests from pests and diseases. In England the public forest estate amounts to 260,000 hectares, equivalent to about one-fifth of the country's woodlands.

  5. The Commission also works on issues that are outside the scope of the Bill, for example, creation of woodland in urban areas and as part of the regeneration of former industrial land in support of the Sustainable Communities Plan led by ODPM.

DELIVERING ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

  6.  The Forestry Commission's commitment to sustainable development is exemplified by the independent certification of its public forest estate, making Great Britain the first country in the world to secure this internationally recognised verification for sustainable forest management. However, we also recognise that delivering sustainable development goes beyond the forest gate and requires integration with other land uses. We therefore welcome the creation of the new Integrated Agency and the Commission for Rural Communities as partners with whom we can work to bring real changes in addressing the social, economic and environmental issues in the countryside.

WORKING WITH THE INTEGRATED AGENCY

  7.  The Forestry Commission will become a close working partner of the new Integrated Agency. This will reflect our distinct areas of expertise and complementary objectives. For this reason, we see it as particularly important that the functions of the Integrated Agency, as stated in the Bill, must be distinctive from the roles of its major partners—the Environment Agency and Forestry Commission—and must give the Integrated Agency a clear focus and direction.

  8.  To clarify these relationships, a three-way Memorandum of Understanding will be drawn up between the Integrated Agency, Environment Agency and Forestry Commission to define and agree our shared objectives and arrangements for joint working. We agree that there is a need for flexibility in this framework so that there is scope for it to evolve as the Integrated Agency finds its feet.

  9.  The new partnership will also build upon the close working relationship that the Commission already has with English Nature, the Countryside Agency, the Rural Development Service and other local and national partnerships which include the Environment Agency, English Heritage, Regional Development Agencies, the Association of National Parks and the Association of AONBs. This will allow the relevant bodies to work more closely together to meet the wider challenges in the countryside, for example allowing a more joined-up approach to regional land use planning. The Forestry Commission will, for example, work closely with the Integrated Agency, and others in preparing and implementing strategies for the restoration and expansion of native woodland.

COMMISSION FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES

  10.  We already work closely with the Countryside Agency and look forward to working with the Commission for Rural Communities to help ensure that actions by public bodies really do make a difference to rural people and communities on the ground.

FLEXIBILITY AND DELEGATION

  11.  We welcome the proposals in the Bill to give the Secretary of State powers of delegation to delivery bodies, and for such bodies to delegate to one another, in all cases by mutual consent. This will allow a degree of flexibility to help rationalise delivery. However, the Forestry Commission has distinct statutory powers and we must remain mindful that these are safeguarded.

OTHER MEASURES

  12.  Most of these have no particular impact on our activities. We would however support the proposal to extend the Countryside and Rights of Way Act biodiversity duty to public bodies and statutory undertakers in England and Wales and also the proposal to clarify the use of mechanically propelled vehicles on rights of way.

CONCLUSION

  13.  The Forestry Commission welcomes the draft Bill and the modernised rural delivery arrangements. We look forward to developing a close partnership with the new Integrated Agency and the Commission for Rural Communities, based on distinctive but complementary roles and building upon the good working relationships we have with the current delivery bodies.

  14.  The Forestry Commission has a track record of managing land and woodland for public benefit and adapting our delivery mechanisms to serve the changing needs of society. It will continue to adapt, bringing our distinctive skills to new partnerships, building upon the close working relationship that the Commission already has with the bodies which will become part of the Integrated Agency.

The Forestry Commission

February 2005





 
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