HC Deb 15 March 1979 vol 964 cc677-9
3. Mr. Hardy

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will take steps to ensure that home timber pro- ducts will meet a greater and growing share of national requirements.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. Gavin Strang)

I refer my hon. Friend to the report to the Forestry Commissioners entitled"The Wood Production Outlook in Britain ". Consultations with interested parties on the report are now in progress and my right hon. Friends will decide on further steps in the light of these.

Mr. Hardy

Given the rapid rate and the often permanently ruinous character of the operations involved in the clearance of the world's forests, is it not clear that even more urgent consideration should be given to the long-term improvement of our home timber production?

Mr. Strang

I agree with my hon. Friend. That is why we attach importance to the discussions to which I have referred. My hon. Friend will acknowledge that planting in the private sector is now recovering significantly in the light of the steps which the Government have taken. Our concern must be to sustain a high level of planting in the public sector.

Mr. Gwynfor Evans

Is the Minister aware that nearly 600,000 acres of Welsh land are planted with trees, which often take over the best pasture land, mixed farms and even arable land? Is he aware that, in spite of all that timber, there is not one major industry which is based on the timber that we produce?

Mr. Strang

I agree that it is easy to talk about increasing the acreage of land devoted to planting. It is more difficult to identify those areas where there is no competition with sheep rearing. The industry is going through a difficult period, and it is difficult to imagine that there will be a substantial investment in the near future.

Mr. Watkinson

Does my hon. Friend accept that although the industrial functions of timber are of overriding importance, our forests provide important environmental and recreational functions? Is he aware that more than 1 million people visited the Forest of Dean last year for recreational purposes? Will he build on the developments which the Forestry Commission have begun, particularly by the use of log cabins?

Mr. Strang

Yes. We have cause to be proud of the Forestry Commision in this context. Its recreational provisions represent public enterprise at its best. We are determined that the Forestry Commission, and not only private interests, should reap the benefits of the profits from such developments.

Mr. Peyton

Will the hon. Member bear in mind that there is a wide and growing agreement on both sides of the House that our present production of timber is miserably inadequate? Does he agree that it is not a question only of competition between public and private interests? Does he agree that it is also a question of how we increase our miserably inadequate level of production? Will the Minister apply his mind to how the private sector can be encouraged to plant more and obtain more benefit from the forests?

Mr. Strang

The right hon. Gentleman talks as if he has paid no attention to the important policy statements which the Government have made in the last two or three years. We have given substantial tax concessions to private forestry, and we have introduced a new grant scheme. Only this morning the chairman of the Forestry Commission, whom I met in my office, assured me that the evidence indicates that the private sector is expanding in response to those inducements.

Mr. Peyton

Will the Minister do better than to congratulate himself on having repaired the damage that his Government have done?

Mr. Strang

The right hon. Member is fair in implying that there is broad agreement between both Front Benches that increased planting is desirable. It looks as if we have things broadly right for the private sector. The problem that looms in the next few years is that the Forestry Commission will run out of land to maintain its planting programme.