§ Lord BURTONasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in view of the fact that the Forestry Commission have recently announced their intention to afforest a very large part of Scotland, plans of the areas intended for planting can be provided, and also an intended time scale.
§ The MINISTER of STATE, SCOTTISH OFFICE (Lord Kirkhill)No announcement of this nature has been made by the Commission, although they have recently circulated a consultative document which puts forward possible programme options for the future of the forestry industry as a whole. A copy of this document is in the Library of the House. The bulk of the Forestry Commission's annual programmes of new planting will be carried out in Scotland where most of the acquisitions of plantable land are taking place. There has been a steady downward trend in new planting in Scotland from 17,000 hectares achieved 1373WA in 1974–75 to 12,200 hectares in 1977–78. A total of 12,400 hectares is estimated for the current year and little improvement is envisaged for the immediate future. A major factor in this trend is the availability of suitable land on the market for acquisition.