Rogerson paid tribute to his Lib Dem predecessor at Defra, David Heath MP who he said “joined the government at a time when trees and forestry were tough for the government”.
He said we had to focus on what worked for jobs and the economy including management of existing woodland.
“There sadly wasn’t time” to protect the public forest estate through legislation before the end of this current parliament in 2015, Rogerson said, but added that the Lib Dems were committed to delivering on this policy and would include it within their upcoming manifesto.
Stuart Goodall Chief Executive of Confederation of Forest Industries (ConFor) said he was “very supportive” of the
Woodland Trust’s objectives.
ConFor was very keen to promote forestry and woodland, he explained, specifically broadleaf woodlands and how to properly manage broadleaf woodlands.
He added that there were opportunities for employment and carbon emission reduction from the UK timber industry. The UK’s importing of 80% of wood products from overseas and said it would have a much lower carbon footprint and be far better for the environment to use UK sourced timber.
He concluded by saying the current political climate offered great opportunity for the Trust to protect ancient woodland and that people were reliant on woodland within the UK for many reasons.
Roger Williams MP, chairman of the Lib Dem backbench Defra committee, explained the importance of the subject to his local area.
“I represent a constituency where forestry and sawmills are a reality in our everyday lives and critical to the local economy.”
He described how all trees, especially the conifers that covered many upland areas in England and Wales, locked up carbon for years unlike concrete which caused carbon emissions when it was made.
The
Woodland Trustwas concerned with ancient woodlands and how important it was to both manage them properly and have the necessary skills to manage them, he said.
It offered a good opportunity for better use of land and more careful planting, especially with high timber prices, he added, as long as it did not damage agriculture.
“I commend the Woodland Trust for what they have done” he said, adding that they now had a huge opportunity across the country.
Speaking on behalf of the
Local Government Association, Councillor Heather Kidd said many councils had worked with the Woodland Trust as part of the Jubilee Woods project.
She said that woodlands were a natural part of the landscape for rural counties like hers in Shropshire, and called for more native species to be planted when other forests had been harvested for timber, logged and moved.
Lib Dem peer Lord Purvis of Tweed spoke from his perspective as a former MSP and a new peer. He was clear about the economic benefits of trees, particularly to his former constituency in the Scottish borders through tourism as well as health and wellbeing.
His former constituency contained Ettrick Forest, a former royal hunting ground and the oldest forest in Scotland. School visits to the forest gave local children a clear understanding of the unique community they were living in, he believed, before praising the “innovative and entrepreneurial people” who had set up a mountain biking centre in the Tweed Valley.
The woodland was a resource that supported local businesses and the wider local community, bringing £6bn to the local economy, he explained.
Calling for a balanced approach to protecting woods and forests and not put them at further risk, Lord Purvis said this would be best achieved by reform to national planning policies, multi-agency work and regional strategies.
He praised work undertaken in this area by the National Farmers Union, concluding that “hopefully in 200 years’ time we will still have a thriving woodland community in the UK.”