The Forestry Commission is to create a new forest management body dedicated to looking after Wales' public forests, Rural Development Minister Michael German anounced today (Tuesday, 20 August).
The new agency is one element in a shake-up of the administrative arrangements for forestry across Britain agreed by Mr German and his fellow Forestry Ministers following the recommendations of the Forestry Devolution Review - a wide-ranging interdepartmental review of the administrative arrangements for developing sustainable forestry policies post-devolution.
Scottish Deputy Minister for the Environment and Rural Development, Allan Wilson, and Department for The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister, Elliot Morley, joined him to express their full support for the delivery of policy in this area by the Forestry Commission. They accepted that the current arrangements needed to be updated but agreed that this should be implemented by administrative action rather than by legislation.
Mr German, added:
"These changes show devolution working in practice. For the first time, Wales has not only its own public forests, but also a team of experts dedicated to ensuring those forests are well managed to meet the needs of the people of Wales.
"The new agency, together with the full integration of forestry into our wider policies, will be good news, not just for forestry but for all of rural Wales"
The aim of the changes is to achieve greater integration of forestry with other rural policy work in England, Scotland and Wales whilst retaining desirable opportunities for a collaborative approach to common issues.
The new arrangements include:
- much greater integration of policy development and delivery between the Forestry Commission's National Office in Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government's Rural Affairs Department. This will be underpinned by a concordat worked up between the two.
- devolving the Forestry Commission's Forest Enterprise agency into three bodies, charged with managing separately the public forests in England, Scotland and Wales.
- an enhanced role for the Welsh Assembly Government in determining research priorities, with joint approval by forestry Ministers of the research strategy and annual research programme.
- enhanced representation for Wales on the Board of Forestry Commissioners.
- a new ministerial committee, involving Ministers from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to discuss international issues and any cross-cutting issues where collaboration would be advantageous and to monitor the effectiveness of these new arrangements.
Forestry Commission Chairman, Lord Clark of Windermere added:
"We are pleased with the outcome of the review and look forward to working with the Welsh Assembly Government under the new arrangements. Forestry has a lot to contribute to Wales' economy and is an important part of its landscape and culture. The changes Ministers have announced today will allow it to play its full part."
The new arrangements, including the new management bodies, are expected to be in place by April, 2003. They will mean some relocation of jobs to Wales although full details have yet to be worked up.
Notes to Editors
1. The Forestry Commission manages over 115,000 hectares of woodlands in Wales - around 40 per cent of all the country's woods and forests.
2. The full text of the review group's report, 'Forestry Devolution Review', and previous related news releases, are available for download from the Commission's website at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fdr.
3. The review was undertaken by officials from the National Assembly for Wales, Forestry Commission, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Scottish Executive, the Cabinet Office and the Treasury. The Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture and Rural Development were also be involved.
Media contact: Clive Davies 01970 625866