HL Deb 04 March 1982 vol 427 cc1445-6WA
Lord Hylton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

  1. (i) What is the policy of the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture with regard to thinning and clear-felling in the forests that it owns;
  2. (ii) What are the current targets (in acreage or volume) for thinning and clear-felling, and how adequate are they in terms of optimum yield;
  3. (iii) to what extent have targets been met during the last five years;
  4. (iv) what are the prospects of meeting current targets during the coming five years; and
  5. (v) what consideration has been given to using low-grade wood and forest by-products from both public and private forests for domestic and industrial heating, steam-raising and small-scale electricity production (especially combined heat and power) in Northern Ireland, given that indigenous supplies of wood could be supplemented if necessary from forest in North-Western England and Western Scotland.

The Earl of Gowrie

(i) Thinning is practised where it can be done economically, and without inducing windthrow. Clear-felling is planned for about the time of maximum mean annual increment, although some stands are felled early where the risk of wind damage is high. Occasionally stands are retained for other reasons such as making the best use of lease-hold ground, or because of the market situation.

(ii) Based on the policy set out in (i), which is designed to achieve optimum yield, there are no targets as such. However the current forecasts of production are:

m3
1981–82 … … … … 74,000
1982–83 … … … … 84,000
1983–84 … … … … 94,000
1984–85 … … … … 104,000
1985–86 … … … … 116,000
Slightly under half of production is expected to be from thinnings.

(iii) The following table indicates the extent to which forecast levels of production have been reached:

Forecast Production
m3 m3
1976–77 … … 42,500 41,213
1977–78 … … 42,500 46,580
1978–79 … … 42,500 50,382
1979–80 … … 42,500 52,572
1980–81 … … 64,000 60,304
234,000 251,051

(iv) Production outturn over the next five years is expected to be within ±10 per cent. of the annual forecast.

(v) There is insufficient excess of low grade wood and forest by-products to merit consideration of use for domestic heating or industrial steam-raising on any major scale. Transport costs would be likely to rule out the possibility of augmenting local supplies by imports from North-West England or Western Scotland. No consideration is being given at present to the possibility of small-scale electricity generation by wood burning.