Grants totalling £40m a year are being paid to overseas timber companies, aristocrats, the royal family and others towards the cost of planting new forests in Britain.
The information was published by The Guardian after Forestry Commission documents were released under the Freedom of Information Act.
The cash is being granted by the Commission and through EU agricultural subsidies.
Britain’s largest landowner the Duke of Buccleuch received grants worth £114,000 in the past two years to cull deer damaging forest ecology, plus restocking with new trees. Buccleuch Estates says the money is justified as the forests are open to public access.
The royal family’s Balmoral estate has received forestry grants worth £290,000 in the past 10 years, with a further £96,000 promised during the next four years.
