§ Lady Saltoun of Abernethyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why since the Forestry Commission (Scotland) North-East Conservancy office in Aberdeen was closed and its responsibilities transferred to the North Conservancy in Inverness, the time taken to deal with applications for thinning licences has increased from a few days to months.
§ The Minister of State, Scottish Office (Lord Glenarthur)The Forestry Commission's conservancy office in Aberdeen was closed in March 1985. Since then, the Inverness office has dealt with 47 applications for felling licences to thin woodlands in the Grampian Region, which was formerly covered by the Aberdeen office. The average time taken to deal with each of these cases has been 16 days, with only 6 cases taking longer than 30 days. Under the Forestry Act 1967, the commission is given a time-limit of 3 months to reach a decision on a felling licence application from the date of its receipt.