§ Lord Burtonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is (a) the maximum and (b) the minimum estimated cost, applicable to each Conservancy of deviating from maximum financial return from the Forest Enterprise Woodlands to the current policy of premature felling advocated by environmentalists.
§ Lord Fraser of CarmyllieThis information is not available in the form requested. The restructuring and landscaping of Forestry Commission woodland in accordance with the Government's multi-purpose objectives for forestry includes not only premature felling but also leaving a proportion of trees to grow beyond their theoretical maximum economic return.28WA The net cost to the commission of this policy was estimated by the National Audit Office in its report Forestry Commission: Timber Harvesting and Marketing (HC 526), published in March 1993, to be £5.6 million a year in notional income foregone.