WE SHOULD give serious consideration to leasing parts of our national forest estate, but I must emphasise we are engaged in genuine consultation. When it was launched, I stressed our fundamental aim is to make full use of Scotland's forests to help m
itigate climate change –planting more trees to lock up carbon and encouraging more use of wood for fuel. To do this, we need funding.
Leasing would allow us to release capital from the national forest estate (worth about £850 million). We would only lease more "boring" commercial forests and use the lease to provide legal safeguards for public benefits such as recreation, conservation and community engagement.
We must address potential concerns. Forestry Commission staff are understandably worried about the impact on their jobs. We have said there would be no compulsory redundancies. And, in addition to statutory protection of employment rights, the Forestry Commission will make the strongest efforts to retain staff who do not want to transfer to a new employer. But I am sure the planting of trees on this scale will mean more rural forestry jobs, not less.
Sawmillers are worried about the impact on timber supply, but existing contracts will be honoured. Some people have said taxpayers will be short-changed. We will set a reserve price to establish our bottom line in negotiating a lease. This new money could allow us to double the rate of woodland expansion and invest about £5 million annually in the biomass sector. It is time to take a positive view of what forestry can do and have an honest debate about climate change and the urgent need to plant more trees.
No
JIM HUME MSP
Lib Dem environment spokesmanTHE government plans to use Scotland's natural assets to make a quick buck with no detail on how the meek sum of £210 million will be spent. The SNP, with the active backing of the Tories, is essentially ready to privatise large swathes of Scotland.
Scotland's forests are important national assets. We must not allow them to be threatened like this. Hundreds have signed the petition www.scotlibdems.org.uk/saveourforests and the government must listen. Forests are not just areas of natural beauty, but hubs for rural and tourist enterprise. The Forestry Commission has timber supply contracts with many local industries, and there is no guarantee a private investor would continue them. Forests are a lifeline for many rural industries, such as sawmills and wood-processing companies, and the communities they support.
Our forests also provide an environment ideally suited to outdoor leisure activities, such as walking and mountain biking, Scotland is a mountain-biking Mecca. The 7stanes network in the south of Scotland is a huge attraction for the region, with more than 400,000 people visiting each year generating over £9 million for the local economy.
If ministers are successful in leasing 25 per cent of the Forestry Commission's most commercially viable forests, its income will be severely diminished.
Ministers are putting hundreds of jobs and livelihoods at risk. Whether wealthy Russian oligarchs, investment banks or conglomerates, the bottom line is that if private investors get their hands on our forests, we will see deterioration in a huge natural asset.
