Scottish Woodlands boss leads industry group tackling woodland creation crisis
The Managing Director of Scottish Woodlands has outlined the initial actions an industry group will take in an effort to remove barriers to woodland creation - including summits to build better cooperation between public and private sector forestry.
At a forestry conference in Edinburgh, Ian Robinson outlined challenges to creating new woodland in Scotland, saying: “Consultation processes are lengthy, complicated, and seem to last forever. There is a lack of understanding of what the industry is trying to do, why we are doing it, and how highly regulated we are.”
Mr Robinson said another major issue was the Forestry Grant Scheme not keeping pace with inflation. Smaller planting schemes in particular had “died off” as a result.
He added: “To get to the targets, we need small-scale planting integrated into the farming landscape, medium-scale planting, - and large planting schemes.”
Mr Robinson said better community consultation was vital to get the industry’s message across. A pilot project in spring 2027 will focus on a specific area, where locals will have conversations about the planting process, and hear more about the positive reasons for woodland creation.
Mr Robinson also said the group was keen to improve the relationship between the public and private sector. He explained: “We recognise Scottish Forestry has had problems, and we need to help them get their confidence back. We are organising 5 events over the next 12 months or so, where Scottish Forestry staff and the private sector will get together and work to rebuild that relationship.”
Earlier, Forestry Minister Jim Fairlie MSP told the conference that the Scottish Government planting target of 18,000 hectares annually by 2029/30 was “ambitious, but achievable” - with the right conditions, leadership, and collaboration.
However, in 2025-26, just 7220 hectares of new woodland were planted - and answering a question later, Mr Fairlie said there was public resistance to creating “monocultures”.
His comments drew some gasps from the audience, and the next presenter, David Leslie, joint Managing Director of James Jones & Sons, pointed out no single-species plantations had been planted in Scotland for well over 30 years.
Mr Leslie highlighted the huge spike in future timber demand, but supply forecasts were well behind that demand - and much more woodland creation was required as a result.
The group chaired by Mr Robinson includes 14 organisations responsible for around 90% of new planting in Scotland.
“There are lots of issues, none of which has a quick fix,” Mr Robinson said. “But I believe we can do something in the short term to help in the long term.”
There was detailed discussion about Scottish Forestry potentially being part of a large new merged environment body in Scotland as part of public service reform.
The industry believes forestry is a fundamentally different industry and needs a different regulator - and doesn’t want to follow Wales, where significant expertise was lost when forestry became part of Natural Resources Wales.
Brodies public law expert Niall McLean said he had concerns that timescales for woodland creation could potentially slip during a period of “resource-heavy” transition to a new body (if it happened), and uncertainty in a transition period could potentially result in more legal challenges, particularly to large planting schemes.
Donald Mackinnon MSP (Labour) said it was crucial to take a long-term view of forestry and supported calls for an industrial strategy for forestry, with cross-party support.
Stuart Goodall, Chief Executive of Confor, stressed the multiple benefits of modern forestry. He said: “Redesigning forests allows us to create more spaces for people and for wildlife” - and revealed that Confor was working on a new report looking at not only the jobs and economic benefits of forestry, but also the natural capital benefits.