Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:35 pm on 8 March 2017.
Cabinet Secretary, you’ll be aware that the latest Woodland for Wales indicators report revealed that, in the year to March 2016, just 348 acres of new woodland was created, which is significantly down from over 16,000 acres that were planted on average in each of the five years to 2014. That step change in planting seemed to coincide with the creation of Natural Resources Wales, and many in the timber manufacturing industry have expressed concerns about continuity of supply, and that will influence some of their business decisions about where investment goes. What do you say to companies like Clifford Jones Timber in Ruthin, in my own constituency, that have raised concerns about this? You’ve indicated that there is going to be an increase. Are we going to get up to this 16,000 acres plus that we were previously achieving historically, so that we can have these adequate supplies not just for the next five or six years, but for 10 and 20 years hence?