§ Mr. Pollockasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is now in a position to make a statement on the changes to be made in the forestry grant-aid and felling controls systems, as foreshadowed in the statement made to Parliament on 10 December 1980.
§ Mr. YoungerYes. In the light of the comments received on the Forestry Commission's consultative paper the Government have decided to introduce the following arrangements.
A new forestry grant scheme will be started on 1 October 1981 aimed at encouraging private forestry to undertake a greater share of future planting, as envisaged in our December policy statement. The scheme has been designed to retain the practical advantages of the earlier grant arrangements whilst reducing costs by simplifying the administrative and legal procedures. It will offer a range of planting grants as set out in Table 1. These will be reviewed periodically by the Forestry Commission having regard to the average costs of establishing private woodlands, as indicated by the surveys carried out by the Universities of Oxford and Aberdeen. The first such review will take effect from 1 October 1982 and subsequent reviews will be carried out at two-yearly intervals. We have also decided that grant payments should be made on the basis of self-certification, subject to a system of spotchecks by the Commission.
The new scheme will cater for individual areas of 0.25 hectares and over and will be open to both owners and tenants. Applications will be subject to approval by the Forestry Commission after consultation, as before, with the appropriate statutory authorities on land use and environmental considerations. As with the basis III dedication scheme, applicants will be required to undertake to enter into discussions, if requested by the local authority, with a view to negotiating an access agreement; this undertaking will not, however, bind the applicant to conclude any such agreement.
Under the dedication schemes, owners do not require a licence to comply with felling prescriptions in a plan of 392W operations approved by the Forestry Commission, and provision will shortly be made by order for a similar exemption for those working to a plan of operations under the new scheme. As in the case of earlier schemes, woodlands grant-aided under the new scheme will not be subject to the application of tree preservation orders under the terms of the Town and Country Planning Acts except with the consent of the Forestry Commission.
Fuller details of the forestry grant scheme are set out in an explanatory leaflet available in the Vote Office and from Forestry Commission offices.
The new scheme supersedes the dedication basis III and small woods schemes which were closed to further applications from 1 July 1981. Existing contracts with the Forestry Commission under those schemes, and the earlier basis I and basis II schemes which were closed in 1972, will continue but any applications for the inclusion of additional areas will be dealt with under the new scheme. In order to save administrative costs, however, opportunities will be taken whenever possible to reduce the number of dedicated estates. Owners will accordingly be encouraged to transfer to the new scheme, and on a change of ownership of dedicated land on or after 1 August 1981 the Forestry Commission will decline to enter into a fresh deed or agreement with the new owner. These changes are in accordance with recommendations made after a Rayner study and will lead in due course to administrative savings of the order of £250,000 per annum at 1980 survey prices.
A review of grants under dedication II and III and the small woods schemes has now been completed and we have agreed to revised rates being introduced from 1 October 1980 as set out in table 2. These represent substantial increases over the existing rates. We have also agreed to reduce the period between reviews to two years; the next review will therefore fall due in October next year.
Any future grant adjustments, whether under the old or the new schemes, will of course need to be contained within agreed cash limits and take account of the economic circumstances at the time.
Final decisions have yet to be taken on the changes in the felling control system proposed in the consultative paper, and these will be the subject of a separate statement. When they have been announced, the Forestry Commission will enter into discussions aimed at simplifying and speeding up the consultative procedures in the light of the comments already received.
The changes I have announced today are tangible evidence of the importance we attach to the continuing expansion of forestry and our wish to see private interests playing a larger part in it. The new grant scheme, with its simplified procedures and realistic grant levels, will allow private forestry to look to the future with assurance.
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Table 1 New Forestry Grant Scheme Grant Rates Effective from 1 October 1981 per hectare Area of Wood Conifers Broadleaves £ £ 0.25 ha – 0.9 ha 600 850 1.0 ha – 2.9 ha 480 700 3.0 ha – 9.9 ha 400 600 10.0 ha and over 230 450 Payment of these amounts will be made in two instalments—80 per cent. on completion of planting, the remainder five years later subject to satisfactory establishment.
Table 2 Dedication and Small Woods Schemes Gram Rates Effective from 1 October 1980 per hectare £ Basis II Dedication Planting grant 105 Management grant (per annum)— first 40 hectares 4.80 second 40 hectares 3.25 balance 2.00 Basis III Dedication Planting grant— Conifers 140 Broadleaves 315 Management grant (per annum) 4.20 Small Woods Scheme Planting grant— Areas from 0.25 to 2.9 hectares *420 Areas from 3 to 9.9 hectares *350 * 75 per cent, payable on completion of planting and the remainder five years later subject to satisfactory establishment.