Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to encourage coppicing of woodland.

By increasing awareness and demand for coppice products, woodland owners will be encouraged to reintroduce coppice management in their woods. For this reason, we are working with ‘Grown in Britain’, along with the Forestry Commission and the National Coppice Federation, to introduce a ‘Grown in Britain Coppice’ licence category. This will allow coppice owners and workers to benefit from the ‘Grown in Britain’ brand as it raises the profile of the home grown woodland industry.

Where significant biodiversity improvement can be achieved, the practice of coppicing can also be supported through Countryside Stewardship. Under the Priority Habitat (broadleaved woodland) or Priority Species objectives of Woodland Improvement (WD2) schemes, the payment of £100 per hectare per year will be paid for activities which improve the biodiversity of woodland or make it more resilient to climate change. Where coppicing forms part of the sustainable long term management of a woodland, it can be supported though this scheme under a multi-annual agreement.