Asked by: Lord Clark of Windermere (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many felling licences have been issued by Forestry Commission England in each quarter since 2015; and how many hectares those licences cover.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Forestry Commission’s record of the number of felling licences granted and the area of land these covered from 2015 to date is reproduced in the table below.
Period | Number of Licences granted | Area of land covered (hectares) |
2015 |
|
|
Q1 (Jan - March) | 598 | 5083 |
Q2 (April - June) | 523 | 4990 |
Q3 (July - Sept) | 562 | 6384 |
Q4 (Oct - Dec) | 611 | 7398 |
2016 |
|
|
Q1 (Jan - March) | 574 | 17040 |
Q2 (April - June) | 603 | 13036 |
Q3 (July - Sept) | 880 | 13329 |
Q4 (Oct - Dec) | 681 | 14795 |
2017 |
|
|
Q1 (Jan - March) | 942 | 19665 |
Q2 (April - June) | 787 | 15132 |
Q3 (July - Sept) | 799 | 23448 |
Q4 (Oct - Dec) | 687 | 13898 |
2018 |
|
|
Q1 (Jan - March) | 694 | 14526 |
Q2 (April - June) | 669 | 13043 |
The above table does not include felling approved on the Public Forest Estate which is exempt from the requirement for a licence or felling approved in legacy English Woodland Grant Schemes.
Asked by: Lord Clark of Windermere (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much timber was (1) approved for felling from Forest Plans and Felling Licences, and (2) actually felled, in the last five years.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Forestry Commission’s estimate of volume approved for felling in Woodland Management Plans and Felling Licences in England for the most recent five years for which the information is available is given in the table below.
Year | Volume (Cubic Metres overbark) | Area Licenced (Hectares) |
2012 | 1,388,000 | 25,985 |
2013 | 1,299,000 | 23,641 |
2014 | 1,466,000 | 19,163 |
2015 | 1,734,000 | 23,856 |
2016 | 2,542,000 | 58,198 |
Total | 8,429,000 | 150,843 |
There is no obligation to fell when approval has been granted and approval can be valid for up to 10 years. This means that approval in a given year will not necessarily relate to the felling in that year. In the vast majority of cases where clear felling has been approved there will be a restocking requirement - so the volume and area of felling approved does not correspond to a reduction in woodland cover.
The above table does not include felling approved on the Public Forest Estate which is exempt from the requirement for a licence and is not recorded centrally or felling approved in legacy English Woodland Grant Schemes.
Asked by: Lord Clark of Windermere (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the gap between the actual supply of wood coming to the market and the forecast availability of wood over the last two years for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Forestry Commission’s 50 year forecast of softwood timber availability for Great Britain estimates that 16.5 million cubic metres of softwood was available for harvest annually in the period 2013–2016. In 2015 and 2016 12.6 million cubic metres of softwood timber was estimated to have been produced.
Hardwood supply chains are relatively poorly developed, which makes it much harder to forecast likely harvesting levels accurately. The ‘50 year forecast of hardwood timber availability’ for Great Britain, which is not based on all broadleaved woodland but only on the area of broadleaved woodland with evidence of recent management, estimated that 0.4 million cubic metres of hardwood would be available for harvest annually in the period 2013 – 2016. This forecast is thought to have been an under estimate of availability because it was estimated that 0.63 million cubic metres was produced in 2015 and 0.66 million cubic metres in 2016. This should not be mistaken for any over exploitation of Great Britain’s broadleaved woodland. This is because this estimated harvest represents less than 12% of the estimated annual increment of 5.7 million cubic metres. The annual increment is the volume of additional hardwood that Great Britain’s broadleaved woodlands grow each year.
Asked by: Lord Clark of Windermere (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions ministers have had with forestry stakeholders concerning forestry policy post-Brexit.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Ministers recognise the opportunities that leaving the EU offers a range of forestry stakeholders and have met a number of them. Defra officials have been working closely with forestry stakeholders, including through a recent event organised by the Forestry Commission, attended by more than 100 people representing a wide range of land owner and forestry interests.
Asked by: Lord Clark of Windermere (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assesssment of forecast availablity of timber; and what measures they will take to reassess the availability of supply.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Timber availability forecasts are published by the Forestry Commission. The current 50 year softwood availability forecast and 50 year hardwood availability forecast were published in April 2014. These documents include the forecast timber availability in public and private woodlands in five year periods from 2013 to 2061. The Forestry Commission updates availability forecasts periodically. Results from the next update are due for publication in 2020.
Asked by: Lord Clark of Windermere (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to redraw grant schemes post-Brexit to create a level playing field between agriculture and forestry projects subject to the suitability of the chosen area for a particular planting scheme.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
On 27 February the Government launched the consultation document ‘Health and Harmony: the future for food, farming and the environment in a Green Brexit’.
Our new agricultural policy will be underpinned by payment of public money for the provision of public goods such as those delivered through forestry. In the consultation document, capital grants are listed as one of the potential elements of a future environmental land management system.
The results of the consultation will help to inform our future policy.