Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:02 pm on 26 June 2018.
Diolch. Can I thank the Member for his questions and his contribution, and the valuable input you've just made, particularly in terms of referencing your colleague David Melding and all that he's done in this area? Of course, as I made clear in my statement, I think this is something where, if we are going to achieve what we want for Wales, nobody has the monopoly on the good ideas, and that's why it's really important to work with stakeholders. We know that there are opportunities post Brexit in terms of the opportunities for land management and the opportunities that offers in terms of woodland and forestry creation, but are kind of in the short term, and it's actually—. That's why I met with not only the Confederation of Forestry Industries and industry stakeholders, but stakeholders from across the piece—so, of course, from the voluntary sector and from Natural Resources Wales and from Cadw—to look at what the current barriers are. I'll be following that up now with NRW in terms of, actually, how we make it easier in the right way to plant the right trees. I think there's a short-term aspiration in terms of, actually, what the initial barriers are and how we can make changes to encourage greater amounts of tree planting with wholesale further change further down the line post Brexit.
Both I and my Cabinet colleague the Cabinet Secretary for climate change and rural affairs have made clear that we are nowhere near the targets set in 2010 in terms of the rates that we need to plant. The reality of it is that woodland creation in Wales has not probably changed in much of my lifetime. I think we have to be looking forward now. That's why this document has to be not just a policy document, but about practical and pragmatic solutions to how we go ahead with that. Actually, in terms of looking at Glastir and funding, I've spent quite a bit of time with colleagues speaking to farmers about, actually, what the current barriers are, how they would improve Glastir, how we could make it a more attractive option. I know some of the barriers have been in terms of permanent change and looking at the period of time you've also got to wait for a return on your investment. So, I've spoken about it with colleagues and I've mentioned it to the climate change committee in terms of what they're doing with the sheep and trees project in Scotland. That looks at how they can work with farmers there in terms of encouraging farmers to continue but diversify, and actually the benefits it brings to what they're doing already as well as actually diversifying in terms of woodland creation with, perhaps, better access—it helps them with access to the land. That's looking more at a conifer base, whereas, actually, we want to get that combination in Wales.
Local authorities support locally produced timber. I know my colleague the Minister for housing is following this very closely and, I believe, met with Confor just yesterday to discuss that we're working very closely across Government on that. I was really pleased—because we've got to get the supply and demand right as well to make sure we have the supply to meet the demand and, actually, how we promote the benefits of timber in construction in terms of the economic benefit potentially to the Welsh economy, but also in terms of the environment in terms of actually how we tackle our decarbonisation agenda.
I was pleased to visit a project in Buckley just last week. They're building a number of new flats, and what they've done is they've actually—[Inaudible.]—how, actually, the supply chain has all been contained within Wales. The timber is from Sitka spruce, sourced from forests around Newbridge, near Llandrindod Wells, and the frames were manufactured in Bala, and they're working very closely with Woodknowledge Wales. So, it's things like that we are, basically, working across Government on to ensure that we can take that further going forward.
Just to close, back to your colleague David Melding, I'm more than happy for us to take those discussions collectively going forward. I think there's probably a particular role in terms of when we're looking at urban coverage. We know there are multiple benefits that that brings to our town and city centres and looking at, actually, the role that public service boards and area statements can play in that.