Long-term forestry strategy needed to avoid planting fall
The forestry industry needs a clear, long-term strategy for woodland creation, with cross-party political support, to avoid a damaging fall in planting, a Scottish Woodlands Director told a forestry conference.
David Robertson, Investment and Business Development Director, was speaking at Forestry and Wood Processing at the Crossroads, hosted by legal firm Brodies LLP and industry trade body Confor.
He said: "We are seeing larger, more complex woodland creation schemes, but the regulatory processes (for applications and approvals) are not fit for purpose. We are being held to a much higher standard than under the UK Forest Standard, which is already one of the most robust regimes in the world."
"We've been forced to create schemes that are less productive than they could be - and this is criminal, in my mind."
Mr Robertson feared this could impact badly on annual planting rates. He said: "The future of planting looks very difficult. Some schemes are in the system for three or four years, and I think we're likely to see planting rates fall. It wouldn't surprise me if it was only about 6000 hectares this year (2025-26).' [8470 hectares were planted in Scotland in 2024-25, and 15,040 in 2023-24."
Mr Robertson also highlighted that woodland creation grant rates hadn't moved with inflation, and that Scottish Forestry didn't apply regulation consistently - and could go beyond its remit.
"We have 5 conservancies, and about 50 woodland officers, and everyone has their own view," he said. "Forestry Scotland is sometimes both regulator and advisor, and this opens us up to challenges, including judicial review, if we do not stick rigidly to systems and procedures."
Mr Robertson said Scottish Forestry also needed to call out false and misleading claims made about forestry.
There was detailed discussion about consulting communities where large forestry schemes were planned, and Mr Robertson said that while improvements could be made, the industry had "done consultation pretty well for a long time". He added: "One of the big frustrations is that we have professional peer-reviewed studies held up at the same evidential level as unfounded claims. Scottish Forestry has to be able to stand up and have the courage to say 'No' at times and push back against misleading claims."
Stuart Goodall, Chief Executive of Confor, said: "Misinformation is running wild. Lots of claims about forestry are utterly without foundation, and there have been flawed studies. The industry resents this because it is making such a big contribution to rural economies and to climate change and biodiversity."
The impact of the uncertainty created by all these factors was investment starting to look elsewhere, he said - which meant the industry was very much at the crossroads.
Mr Goodall said: "The next Scottish Government will wield considerable influence in the future of our industry. We want politicians to realize that forestry can tackle the cost of living crisis, housing emergency and climate emergency, without any trade-offs."
Mairi Gougeon MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, told the conference that forestry was a "success story" in Scotland, adding £1 billion annually in economic value and supporting 34,000 jobs. However, she recognised "challenges" and a "significant impact on industry confidence, particularly the cut to the woodland creation budget".
She stressed this had been increased and that the Government was looking closely at multi-annual budgets to help the industry with longer-term planning.
The Cabinet Secretary welcomed work done by Confor to deliver training to the industry to ensure consistent and high-standard community consultation. Forestry consultant Claire Glaister, one of the people delivering this training, said the big message was that people often just wanted to be heard - and to be told clearly, in simple language, what was going on at each stage of a planting or harvesting project.
The huge potential for forestry and wood was illustrated by Alex Murray, Head of Forestry at Glennon Brothers, which recently invested almost £20 million into its Alexander Timber Design plant in North Ayrshire, using robotics to build Scottish homes from Scottish timber.
The plant makes 2500 timber frames for Scottish homes every year, and could increase this by a further 1250 per year by adding an extra shift.
Mr Murray said there was a good pipeline of timber coming into the market over the next 15 years, but that this was predicted to tail off in the early 2040s. He added: "There's no silver bullet to increase long-term timber supply, but when it costs £50-80 million to build a new wood processing plant, nobody is going to invest that kind of money unless they can be sure they will get the raw material."
At a time of tight public finances, Mairi Gougeon said private investment was important to help forestry succeed - but Rob Carlow of Gresham House warned the climate for investors was worsening.
He explained that his business had invested very heavily in forestry in Scotland, and launched a hugely successful £300 million fund in 2021. He added: "There was an appetite to do it again, to 'rinse and repeat', but we looked at the environment and felt it was too risky a proposal."
Mr Carlow reinforced concerns about the complex woodland creation landscape: "It's entirely appropriate that we operate to strict guidelines, but we cannot operate when all the guidelines are being changed as our forests grow over 30 or 40 years. We need certainty In the long term to deploy our capital."
There was cross-party political support for a Timber Industrial Strategy for Scotland, similar to one launched this year in Wales - and to the Timber in Construction Roadmap for England, backed by the last two UK Governments. Stuart Goodall flagged up the idea, which was backed vocally by Willie Rennie (Lib Dem) and Daniel Johnson (Labour).
Finlay Carson (Conservative) said that long-term certainty was the most crucial factor for the industry to thrive, while Ariane Burgess (Green) recognised commercial forestry would play a big part in planting, to provide the timber for the homes we need - part of a variety of planting to make Scotland a 'Forest Nation'.
David Robertson supported the idea as part of a broader, long-term strategy for woodland creation in Scotland with cross-party political backing - to provide certainty and avoid constant changes in rules and standards.
He said after the event: "The message from the conference was clear: certainty is the single most powerful incentive. With consistent policy, fair regulation, and timely decisions, forestry will deliver far beyond its targets — for jobs, economic growth, timber, biodiversity and climate."