Timber production belongs at the heart of forestry policy making. That has long been Confor’s stance, promoting the planting of productive species and increased use of British-grown wood in construction.
Now, a report from the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has set out the latest evidence to support that view.
‘Seeing the wood for the trees: the contribution of the forestry and timber sectors to biodiversity and net zero goals’ makes it clear that the government must clearly define how forestry in England will contribute to the delivery of objectives for timber, as well as for nature recovery and climate.
“This welcome report highlights how a failed generation of policy making has led to a decline in wood production in England, which will in turn harm efforts to achieve net zero by 2050 and mitigate a growing timber crisis,” said Stuart Goodall, Confor chief executive. “This needs to be a watershed moment that puts timber production at the heart of policy making in England, where it belongs.
“Importantly, it stresses what Confor has said for years: a sharp increase in timber production can be achieved at the same time as addressing the climate emergency and nature crisis. Economic and environmental benefits can be delivered in tandem. The very title of the report recognises this.”
This is the second House of Commons committee report in this Parliament, from different sets of MPs from across the parties, to reach the conclusion that we need to plant more productive woodland in England (and the rest of the UK) and give greater priority in policy and grants to producing wood.
The problem is clearly defined by the EAC: “The World Bank estimates that global timber demand is set to quadruple by 2050. Demand in the UK is also expected to rise, in part because of the government’s commitment to promote timber use in construction as part of the UK’s Net Zero Strategy.
“The UK imported 81% of all its timber in 2021, making it the second highest net importer of wood in the world. Against this backdrop of increasing demand, the UK’s softwood timber supply is set to fall even further behind demand, with production forecast to peak in the late 2030s before falling back to current levels in the 2040s.”
However, despite increasing evidence that a steep increase in planting is needed to meet climate change targets and stimulate rural economies, the latest figures confirm tree planting rates across the UK are still way off target.
“The government’s target to plant 30,000ha of woodland in the UK by March 2025 is welcome, and by and large ministers appreciate the conflicting challenges and demands on woodland,” commented EAC chair Philip Dunne MP.
“But the Committee is concerned that England is currently way off meeting its contribution to that UK-wide goal, and that the rate of planting must increase: not only to achieve greater biodiversity, but to ensure that the supply of timber from productive forestry is maintained.”
The UK planted a total of 12,960ha of new woodland in the year to March 31, 2023 – less than half of the oft-repeated manifesto commitment of 30,000. New planting rates in Wales doubled from 580ha in 2021/22 to 1,190ha in 2022/23 but, in Scotland, new planting dipped from 10,480ha to a disappointing 8,190ha.
England saw an increase from 2,260 to 3,130ha, but Northern Ireland slipped back from 540ha to 450ha.
“On the plus side, planting in England is up year-on-year, while on the downside the proportion of timber-producing woodlands is tiny,” Mr Goodall pointed out. “We need to do much better here, as a failure to plant far more productive woodland is bad for the UK’s economy and for the global environment. It is also a fatal weakness, in that all evidence shows planting targets won’t be met without creating significant areas of productive woodland – people who own land want to make a living and earn an income.
“It’s vital that we seize the day by going further and faster – to produce the timber we need in this country and avoid an everincreasing reliance on imports. The UK currently imports 81% of its wood products at a cost of more than £11bn, according to latest figures.
“This increasing ‘timber insecurity’ is bad for the UK’s economy and bad for the environment. We can, and must, do better.”
Mr Goodall also welcomed the EAC’s recognition that previous government strategies for the sector had not been well-integrated.
The report says: “The government should clearly set out how forestry in England will contribute to the delivery of objectives for timber as well as for nature recovery and climate.” It also calls for the Timber in Construction roadmap to address the afforestation commitment in the England Tree Action Plan, and “demonstrate how timber supply in future decades will help to meet growing demand for timber construction products, in a comprehensive, integrated and strategic way”.
It suggests that overall tree planting targets should be divided into subcategories for the type of woodland needed to achieve different goals – and urges Forestry England to make its contribution to future timber supply by planting 2,000ha of new woodland by 2026.
“At the moment there are simply too many overlapping strategies that aim to cover tree planting policies in the UK and in England, and there is little evidence of an overall vision for the timber sector,” said Mr Dunne. “The numerous strategies are disjointed: what is required is an overarching, holistic strategy that sets a long-term vision for how different types of woodland will be used to deliver government’s goals.”
‘Seeing the wood for the trees’ further recommends that the government set a realistic long-term target for the amount of timber to be produced domestically – a welcome recognition for the industry.
“This is the call for a properly integrated and long-term vision for forestry that we have been demanding for decades – getting planting done, and insisting that the private sector is encouraged to plant all types of woodland, with a strong focus on productive forestry to grow timber,” said Mr Goodall.
“Confor is currently working on a National Wood Strategy for England and that work chimes very closely with this report. We look forward to the government working with us to join the dots and make the vision in this report a reality.
“This report makes clear that we need to plant softwoods to provide the timber for the next generation – especially timber frames for hundreds of thousands of warm, sustainable new homes. We need to remove the outdated stigma once and for all from softwood planting and deliver the modern forests that society needs.”
The EAC is due to issue a separate report on deforestation after the summer recess as part of its Sustainable Timber and Deforestation inquiry. Stuart Goodall gave evidence to this inquiry late last year, highlighting the particular need to use more wood in construction in order to help decarbonise the UK’s construction industry.
