§ 66. Mr. Ian BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give a progress report on the forestry and farm woodland schemes since the changes to the forestry taxation.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe forestry taxation changes were announced on 15 March 1988, the associated woodland grant scheme was opened to applications on 21 June 1988 and the farm woodland scheme was introduced on 1 October 1988.
By 30 September 1989, the Forestry Commission had received applications for entry to the woodland grant scheme which covered nearly 50,000 hectares of prospective new planting. In the first full planting season after the 1988 Budget—that is, for the year to 30 September 1989—13,468 hectares of new planting were grant-aided by the Commission, including 6,984 hectares under the woodland grant scheme.
During the year ended 30 September 1989, the farm woodland scheme attracted applications covering over 7,600 hectares of proposed planting, and grant had been paid on 1,825 hectares.