John Stevenson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Stevenson on 2014-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to replace productive conifer forest cover lost as a result of the (a) Open Habitats Policy and (b) Ancient Woodlands Policy.

Dan Rogerson

Open habitats policy has a mechanism within it to ensure there is a balance between woodland creation and woodland loss based on the composition and productivity of the woodland that is being removed.

The Forestry Commission monitors the area of woodland restored to open habitats and uses the data along with the quality of biodiversity benefit to determine whether compensatory planting should be required when granting a felling licence.

Keepers of Time, the Ancient Woodland Policy, promotes the restoration of Plantations on Ancient Woodlands to site native species for biodiversity benefits. There is no reason why these woods should not still be managed productively, albeit with a different timber crop.