Forest shake-up to recommend planting more trees
The Bishop of Liverpool missed his second vocation. He would have been ace poitician. He has more media savvy than some of the best I have met. He was great on radio 4 on Wednesday morning setting out the recommendations of the forestry review.
This article previewed a number of key things he said. We also count Pam Warhurst who Chairs the Forestry Commission as a good friend and force for good – so we are biased in praising the outcomes of this review – but with the Bishop and Pam we are in very good company!!!
In terms of the detail of what is proposed the article tells us:
England contains around 1.3m hectares of woods and forests – an area about twice the size of Devon. Of this18 per cent is public forest.
The panel is expected to recommend that public access is improved not only in the public forest estate but across England by building paths and planting trees near towns and cities.
The panel is also set to recommend an overhaul of how the publicly-owned forests are managed, with suggestions it could be split between a commercial arm focused on timber and a public arm focused on access and environment.
But with a 25 per cent budget cut currently being exacted from the Forestry Commission, there is unlikely to be much more funding available for the publicly-owned forests where so many people enjoy naure and walking their dogs.
One final thought, in the context of the Localislm Act can pockets of local forest be designated as assets of community value?