§ 38. Mr. Parkerasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will organise a meeting of all interested parties to work out a forest planting policy for the next 50 years aimed at substantially reducing imports by doubling the hectareage under woodlands in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. StrangAs my hon. Friend will be aware, the Forestry Commission has undertaken a review of the wood production outlook in Britain to the middle of the next century. The review report was widely circulated as a consultative document and has stimulated a most useful debate on the future of forestry in this country. The Forestry Commissioners have received and considered views from some 100 interested parties. The majority of these favoured an expansion of afforestation as a prudent measure to relieve the country's large dependence on imported timber, although the scale of such expansion, and the effects on other land uses, will obviously need to be considered further. The Commissioners will be reporting their conclusions to my right hon. Friends the Minister, the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Wales later in the year when they are able to take into account certain other relevant studies, such as the one currently being undertaken by the centre for agricultural strategy under the title of "A Forestry Strategy for the United Kingdom". In these circumstances we do not think the time is yet appropriate to consider a meeting of the kind suggested by my hon. Friend.