Memorandum submitted by the Forestry Commission
(V12)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This memorandum sets out the role and work of
the Forestry Commission in relation to the Rural Strategy 2004.
The Rural Strategy in line with Lord Haskins'
recommendations will have the following implications for the Forestry
Commission:
— responsibility for strategic forestry
policy in England will transfer to Defra so they will be able
to consider the role of forestry as part of an integrated approach
to delivering public benefits from land management;
— Defra will transfer their forestry
delivery responsibilities to the Forestry Commission. This will
broaden the responsibilities of the Forestry Commission as the
lead delivery body for forestry; and
— the Forestry Commission will become
a close working partner of the new Integrated Agency providing
distinct but complementary expert roles and will work with the
Agency to modernise and streamline arrangements for more effective
and efficient delivery of rural policy objectives.
The Forestry Commission welcomes the Rural Strategy
and modernised rural delivery arrangements.
The Forestry Commission has a track record of
sustaining its distinctive skills in managing land and woodland
for public benefit and adapting delivery mechanisms to serve the
changing needs of society. It looks forward to adapting to serve
the Rural Strategy and an integrated approach to land management.
INTRODUCTION
1. This memorandum sets out the role and
work of the Forestry Commission that is relevant to the Government's
Rural Strategy 2004. The Commission also works on issues that
are outside the scope of the Rural Strategy, for example in urban
areas and the regeneration of former industrial land in support
of the Sustainable Communities Plan led by ODPM. This memorandum
considers the rural aspects of the Commission's work.
STATUS, FUNCTIONS
AND ORGANISATION
OF THE
COMMISSION
2. 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.
3. 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.
CONTINUITY AND
CHANGE
4. Forestry is a distinctive and very long-term
use of land. This calls for an approach that fosters both continuity
in the management of land and relationships with landowners together
with flexibility in adapting outputs to serve the changing needs
of society.
5. The Forestry Commission has a track record
in exemplifying this approach. The Commission was originally charged
with creating plantations to provide more substantial and secure
supplies of wood. Since the creation of the Forestry Commission
woodland area has doubled and wood production has significantly
increased. Priorities of society have, however, changed. The response
of the Commission is illustrated by the following examples:
— Great Britain was the first country
in the world to secure internationally recognised independent
certification for the sustainable management of its public forest
estate;
— the Forestry Commission is the largest
individual provider of public access and informal recreation facilities
in the countryside;
— over 90% of all grant aid to private
landowners for the creation of new woodlands is to support the
planting of native broadleaves; and
— the Forestry Commission is now a
major partner in the restoration of derelict land, creating improved
environments and accessible green space in our major cities and
coalfield communities.
FORESTRY POLICY
6. The Government's aims for forestry in
England are:
— the sustainable management of our
existing woods and forests; and
— a continued steady expansion of our
woodland area to provide more benefits for society and our environment.
7. The Government's priorities and programmes
for delivering sustainable forestry in England are set out in
its forestry strategy, A New Focus for England's Woodlands[8].
The forestry strategy is a sister document to the Strategy
for Farming and Food published by Defra. Taken together they
provide the main land-use context of the Rural Strategy 2004.
8. The England Forestry Strategy was published
in December 1998 and is based around four inter-related programmes:
Rural Development; Economic Regeneration; Recreation, Access and
Tourism; and the Environment and Conservation. Each of the four
programmes includes a range of actions that the government plans
to take over the next five to 10 years.
— Forestry for Rural Development
covers forestry's role in the rural economy with particular
reference to timber production and the development of markets.
The focus is upon how woodlands can be managed to deliver more
benefits to local economies, by creating jobs both upstream and
downstream of the forest industry.
— Forestry for Economic Regeneration
outlines opportunities for woodlands to play a positive role
in strategic land-use planning. These include restoring former
industrial land and creating a green setting for future urban
and urban fringe development.
— Forestry for Recreation, Access,
and Tourism describes what can be done to promote more and
better quality public access to woodlands. The programme also
includes opportunities for ensuring that woods and forests continue
to be used for a wide range of recreational pursuits as well as
complementing and supporting the tourist industry which is now
a major contributor to the rural economy.
— Forestry for the Environment and
Conservation embraces the role that woodlands can play in
conserving and enhancing the character of our environment, our
cultural heritage and in delivering the Government's nature conservation,
biodiversity and climate change objectives. It also considers
the impact that woodland creation and management may have on other
environmental resources and other land-uses.
FORESTRY AND
THE RURAL
STRATEGY
9. The Rural Strategy 2004 recognises that
forestry is a key land-use which, through the England Forestry
Strategy, helps to protect our natural resources, provides public
services and underpins sustainable development.
10. The Forestry Commissioners have welcomed
the new arrangements in the Rural Strategy which implement recommendations
made by Lord Haskins:
— responsibility for strategic policy
on forestry in England will transfer to Defra who will now be
able to consider the role of forestry as part of an integrated
approach to delivering public benefits from land management;
— the Forestry Commission will focus
within this framework upon being the main delivery body for forestry,
developing woodland solutions for the Government's policy priorities
on sustainable development, natural resource protection and health
and wellbeing. In order to rationalise delivery arrangements,
Defra will transfer responsibility to the Forestry Commission
for community forestry around towns and will strengthen the role
of the Commission in supporting the creation of new woodlands
on farms by transferring responsibility for the Farm Woodland
Premium Scheme; and
— the Forestry Commission will become
a close working partner of the new Integrated Agency. This will
reflect our distinctive areas of expertise, complementary objectives
and stakeholders who are based on the use of land for a range
of social, economic and environmental purposes. 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.
DEVELOPING NEW
PARTNERSHIP APPROACHES
FOR STREAMLINED
EFFECTIVE SERVICE
DELIVERY
11. The transitional period preparing for
the full operation of the new Integrated Agency provides scope
for substantial advances in the delivery of rural services through
a partnership with the Forestry Commission. The following points
illustrate the potential scope of such an approach which would
exemplify modernised rural delivery:
(a) Shared Objectives
Both organisations should work closely with
Defra to identify joint interests/responsibilities in delivering
objectives and contributions to Public Service Agreements. Key
areas of joint working should include:
— land management solutions to diffuse
pollution, soil and water conservation and mitigating the risks
posed by climate change;
— protection of designated sites SSSIs,
Natura 2000 sites and scheduled Ancient Monuments;
— implementation of the England Biodiversity
Strategy with special reference to habitat and species action
plans;
— tackling deficiencies in access provision
or recreation facilities in the countryside;
— conserving and enhancing cultural
landscapes with particular reference to AONBs; and
— exemplifying sustainable use of land
for beneficial public purposes with particular reference to National
Parks.
(b) Distinctive but Complementary Roles
The two bodies should agree a Memorandum of
Understanding on our shared objectives and arrangements for joint
working. This should complement memoranda specifying the relationships
that both bodies should have in future with Defra.
(c) Integrated Approaches to Land Management
The Commission considers that there is considerable
scope for co-operation at the strategic, catchment, landscape
and farm scales between itself and the integrated agency when
considering interactions between land-uses to secure better policy
outcomes.
(d) Statutory Mechanisms
The legislation to establish the new integrated
agency should require it to work closely with the Commission,
particularly on issues concerning land-use change and the protection
of woodland, for which the Commission has statutory duties involving
Environmental Impact Assessments and the licensing of tree felling.
There is also scope for streamlining existing consultation procedures
to improve public services and decision making.
(e) Grant Schemes to Landowners
The Commission's new English Woodland Grant
Scheme is being developed for introduction in 2005 alongside the
Defra's new agri-environment schemes using wherever possible consistent
values and approaches. Both schemes will form part of the new
Environmental Land Management Fund and there may be scope within
this for further integration.
(f) Shared Services
Building upon the work of the modernising rural
delivery review, the Commission believes that there is scope to
develop a wide range of shared services with the Integrated Agency
for greater efficiency in delivery. The scope includes: "first
stop shops"; co-location of staff; sharing specialist staff
and support services; interoperable systems for the management
of grant applications and data and a shared Internet interface
with customers.
REGIONAL AND
LOCAL DELIVERY
12. The Commission is already organised
on regional lines and we are working with English Nature, the
Countryside Agency, Government Offices for the Regions and the
Rural Development Agencies in the prioritisation of rural delivery
resources and the tailoring of delivery arrangements to serve
local needs. To prepare the ground for an increased regional approach
we are:
— supporting Government Offices in
the preparation of Regional Forestry Frameworks which are due
for completion by March 2005; and
— preparing to deliver the new English
Woodland Grant Scheme through Regional Grants responding to regional
needs and priorities with a national framework.
THE PUBLIC
FOREST ESTATE
13. The changes announced for rural delivery
by the Government as part of the Rural Strategy will have no direct
impact on arrangements for managing the public forest estate.
14. At 260,000 hectares, the public forest
estate vested in the Secretary of State and entrusted to the Forestry
Commission is, nevertheless, the largest individual vehicle available
to the Government to engage directly in the rural and urban delivery
of public services from land management. The public forest estate
is an exemplar of sustainable development as recognised internationally
through independent certification of its woodland management.
It is the largest provider of access and recreational facilities
in the countryside, a major land manager in National Parks and
with the Ministry of Defence, the largest manager of Sites of
Special Scientific Interest and ancient monuments. The estate
is also growing rapidly in creating and managing green space in
and around our major urban centres.
15. Building on this experience the Commission
sees considerable scope for broadening the partnership with the
new agency by using the public forest estate as an exemplar of
best practice in the delivery of sustainable solutions for land
management and as a catalyst for working with adjacent landowners
on projects which can only be tackled at a landscape scale.
CONCLUSIONS
16. The Forestry Commission welcomes the
Rural Strategy and the modernised rural delivery arrangements.
We look forward to developing a close partnership with Defra and
the new Integrated Agency based on distinctive but complementary
roles and building upon the good working relationships we have
with existing delivery bodies.
17. The Forestry Commission is well placed
to support Government Offices and partners in identifying the
priorities for forestry in each region and adapting delivery arrangements
to suit local circumstances.
18. The Forestry Commission has a track
record of sustaining our distinctive skills in managing land and
woodland for public benefit and adapting our delivery mechanisms
to serve the changing needs of society. It will continue to adapt
to serve the new Rural Strategy and an integrated approach to
land management.
17 September 2004
8 A New Focus for England's Woodlands. Strategic
Priorities and Programmes. Forestry Commission 1998. Back
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