More Native Trees Required

A meeting in February of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Forestry and Tree Planting heard that timber grown in the UK is perfectly good to use in construction and has a big part to play in renovating properties as well as building new homes.

Reported on by Confor, the discussion focused on how the use of wood must increase significantly if the UK is to meet its climate change targets and produce more homegrown wood. Currently, the UK only produces about 20% of the wood it uses, with 80% imported.

Paul Brannen, a former MEP and now head of public affairs for CEI-Bois and EOS (the European woodworking and sawmilling industries), began the meeting by outlining the global perspective, saying: “If we house the world’s fast-growing population using these traditional materials (cement, steel, brick and block), there is no way we will meet global climate targets. The only material we know that we can substitute for them is wood. Can we use wood products in what the EU is calling the ‘renovation wave? This is important because the UK has the oldest housing stock in Europe.”

This could include the mass use of both wood fibre for lagging lofts and wooden window frames instead of plastic and metal ones. Actions like this could create a ‘second carbon sink’ in the built environment, after the first sink in an expanded area of new forests.

Dr Dan Ridley-Ellis, head of the Centre for Wood Science at Edinburgh Napier University, said it was important to remember that wood had many uses – as well as high-profile timber housing, there was a need for fencing, pallets, energy and the retro-fitting of properties. The UK currently produces about 10-12 million cubic metres of wood every year. “When we talk about building with timber, we need to remember we need all this wood and much more besides. Only about 20% of our demand (for wood products) is met by homegrown timber.”

Dr Ridley-Ellis stressed that total timber self-sufficiency in the UK was an unrealistic goal, adding: “Even if we met our current planting targets and planted entirely productive conifer species, we would still not be self-sufficient for 200 years – and that’s where we are now, not taking into account growing demand. Fundamentally, timber is renewable and, on the face of it, plentiful, but we can forget about the reality on the supply side. Renewable is not the same as infinite.

“The trees we plant now will not be used for decades and will set the standard for future generations. Trees grown here are suitable for much of our construction as long as we do not over-specify. We need to use what is good enough, not better than it needs to be.”

Jasper Meade, director of PYC Group in Powys, Wales, who has been working with wood for 30 years, said demand for wood was growing fast, with much greater interest from councils and housing associations and has created major supply challenges. “There are difficulties in procuring Welsh timber: one has to really plan ahead and the credit terms are not always favourable,” he said. “We want to be able to source timber from our own country because that is sensible and sustainable. The situation is changing, but we have had shocking difficulties getting timber since Brexit, with prices shooting up about 25%.”

Caroline Ayre, national manager for England for Confor, asked why it seemed such a challenge to make a solid link between tree planting, woodland management and wood use, saying: “Demand for wood is increasing, exponentially, but are politicians and civil servants building this into policy-making? Are they advocating the urgent need for increasing sustainable wood production in tandem with sustainable food production? The need to plant productive woodlands now and restock those that have been harvested. The language around the next round of land use support would suggest not. In the race to plant we need to change perceptions, change language, it’s not tree planting we should be promoting, it’s tree establishment. We need to plant with a purpose.”

Ben Lake MP, chair of the APPG on Forestry and Tree Planting, added: “It’s so vital to set a clear pathway to plant more trees, manage more woods and use more homegrown timber in the year that COP26 comes to the UK and focuses all our minds on our global climate challenge. The Climate Change Committee has recommended to the UK Government that from 2025 at the latest, all new homes in the UK should be timber-framed. This is a massive ask and the biggest question is where is all that wood going to come from?”

Lake said he would write to Minister for Forestry Lord Goldsmith setting out what the APPG had discussed and asking for his views on how the Government plans take into consideration greatly increased demand for timber.

More at  www.confor.org.uk  www.growninbritain.org