Transparency data

Minutes: 31 October 2024

Published 21 May 2026

Forestry Commission board of commissioners 938th meeting minutes, Thursday 31 October 2024, 11:00–13:30 in person at Bristol and via MS Teams.

1. Introductions and apologies

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and congratulated Julian Evans for being awarded the Royal Forestry Society’s gold medal and Jo Bradwell on becoming an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Foresters.

2. Declarations of interest

The declarations of interest were confirmed as accurate.

(Paper) Memo 24/24

3. Minutes of the board of commissioners, 29 July 2024 and matters arising

It was agreed to strengthen the minutes with the following amendments:

• item 7 discussion, to redraft to reflect the importance of the issue and threat to timber supply
• item 8, to amend to state ‘the large amount of unmanaged woodland was raised’
• item 10, to reflect the terms of reference are to undergo a full review to support the direction of the board and the role of the commissioners going forward, which would be led by Richard Stanford. In addition, the agreement that Commissioners could attend other boards upon request is to be included

The minutes were agreed as an accurate recording of the previous meeting with these amendments. All actions from the previous meeting had been completed.

(Paper) Memo 25/24

Action

Sarah Clancy to update the minutes.

4. Chair’s update

The Chair summarised the meetings and events he had attended since July. The Chair had additionally written to all the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) ministers once appointed and had met with Secretary of State, Steve Reed. Minister Mary Creagh had spoken at the Forestry Conference and met with Anna Brown and Richard Stanford in September, where she expressed her interest in the social benefits of woods and trees, pests and diseases and public access. The Deputy President of the National Farmers Union conveyed concerns that farmers may be forced to following planting directions and expressed they are open to conversations on working together.

Richard Stanford had represented Minister Creagh at the European Forestry Conference and signed the bond declaration on sustainable forest management on behalf of the government.

Forest Research had great success in growth in terms of infrastructure, engagement and activity as well as undertaking a lot of work on an international scale. Forest Services had over 6,480 hectares of live England Woodland Creation Offer agreements, felling licence applications waiting to be processed had improved by 15% compared to the previous year and 90% of all woodland fast track applications are being processed within the 90 day target. Forestry England had put ‘Securing the Future’ in place which showed great progress and change. Forestry England was continuing to grow its leisure business and the seed extractor at Delamere would be completed by spring.

5. Forestry Commission finances and spending review update

The spending review had reviewed the current and next financial year but had not covered the following 4 years. On the in-year perspective, it could be managed with the government funding, and the current instability meant good potential for capital departmental expenditure limit. The Forestry Commission was mindful that, whatever the funding provision next year, a risk is not harboured into the following years.

6. Forestry Commission corporate plan

Derrick Osgood provided an update on the progress of the corporate plan, highlighting two elements that had not been delivered. The first was leasehold acquisition through the Nature for Climate Fund (NCF), this was because the Forestry Commission was moving away from leasehold and move the hectares into freehold. The second not delivered was phase 2 of Holt, funding arrangements are being reviewed as part of the spending review. It was confirmed that submissions were being put to ministers with a request for the publication of the deer and squirrel strategies. The implications of a squirrel strategy were discussed, and it was agreed that various actions would need to be taken as well as sourcing funding to support the work for it to be a success.

Staff pay was raised following the results of the staff survey showing less than 20% of employees in Forestry England were satisfied with their pay, though this was only rated as amber ‘consequences negligible’ on the plan, it was requested the status be changed to ‘needs addressing’ as many ambers such as this needed to take into account the different angles for time, delivery and performance.

The 3 strategic opportunities were discussed:

1. Land use framework – the view of Forestry Commission staff is that, should a land use framework be introduced, it focus on the agreed strategic objectives and statutory targets. The woodland creation ‘purple map’ is widely understood and therefore it was suggested this be used as a tool for customers thinking about planting trees and could be included in Defra’s land use framework as encouragement. The main Forestry Commission contribution to a national land use framework would be to ease the process by which people apply for permission to plant and obtain grants and financial support.
2. Ecosystem resilience – the proposed elements of strategy development were outlined, with a note that there may be a need to incentivise some new solutions to avoid repeating the same ones previously attempted and simultaneously avoid a small number of solutions being overly promoted.
3. Green finance – there is good movement in the sector, with donations and legacies for woodland creation and restoration bringing in significant amounts each year on top of other voluntary money provisions and the sale of carbon units. A summary of the markets was provided, along with the associated knowledge gaps such as not fully understanding the risks and benefits of the different approaches to developing green finance options for the business. It was noted that the market was very young so caution was required when engaging, though a potentially a lot could be gained going forward.

(Paper) Memo 27/24

Action

Derrick Osgood to review the status key descriptors.

7. Ministerial priorities and government missions

It was noted that the ministers were highly driven by the five missions, Minister Creagh was very positive about land purchasing by Forestry England and recognised the importance of timber. The current issue is the Forestry Commission not having a direct line to ministers and messages being filtered. This highlighted the potential need for commissioners to be more of a voice for the Forestry Commission, and this would be considered with the terms of reference review in the coming year. £400 million has been allocated to trees and peat over the next 2 years, additionally the NCF was £750 million over 5 years which was very positive.

However, resource allocation (people) was potentially being cut, and further discussions were to be had on this issue with Defra Ministers. The Secretary of State and Minister Creagh have agreed to progress green renewables and land purchasing had been restarted. A discussion was held on the impact of inheritance tax; however it was currently unclear how this would impact on forestry.

(Paper) Memo 28/24

8. Forestry and Woodland Advisory Committee (FWAC) appointments

FWAC appointments are on a 3 yearly cycle and approval was requested for the required reappointments, all were approved by the board. It was confirmed that the commissioners allocated FWACs would be reviewed once a new commissioner had been appointed.

(Paper) Memo 29/24

9. Review of regulators

Defra hold responsibility for several frameworks and items of legislation which can conflict with each other. A review is being undertaken to see how this could be improved, and this will include checking for critical independent interdependencies with other non-Defra regulatory bodies. The review will be looking at targeted opportunities for reforms to drive economic growth.

There are opportunities for the Forestry Commission including green finances, and modernising the Forestry Act would also be of benefit to support this. It was agreed that Anna Brown would circulate an email update to the board prior to the next meeting on the opportunities and impact scale of the review.

Action

Anna Brown to circulate an update email on the review opportunities and impact scale.

10. Energy renewables legislation

Forestry England had been working with the Defra team on renewable energy, to demonstrate its compatibility with other activities and the positive impact. The Defra policy team is supportive, and a submission has been made to the minister to request consent for measures to be incorporated into the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

Outstanding points subject to a second submission relate to the devolved administrations and whether they should be included in the bill, and also that the minister has granted approval but with consenting powers which need to be understood, and these are to be part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Next steps include creating a policy instructions and legal instructions, followed by external stakeholder engagement and completion of an MoU. The board expressed full support for the work being undertaken and an update is to be provided in March.

(Paper) Memo 30/24

11. Any other business

The Gravetye charity MoU had been updated, Julia Grant and Peter Latham were the current commissioners on the board with Julia being the Chair but both were ending their terms as commissioners in the next few months. It was proposed that Julia remain Chair after finishing her term as commissioner for the next 2 years, with Peter also remaining as a trustee after his, both representing the Forestry Commission as former commissioners with an additional active commissioner appointed who would take over as Chair when Julia’s term ended. Annual reports would continue to be given to the commissioners board. The suggestions were approved by the board.

A new commissioner was in the process of being appointed, with the appointment awaiting Palace approval before being formally announced.

The charity proposal for Forestry England was progressing and will return to the July commissioners board. The National Audit Office (NAO) were going to provide some input into the proposal, it was agreed to extend the meeting invitation to Mike Seddon.

Thanks were expressed to Julia Grant for all her work as a commissioner and Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) Chair.

Action

To include Mike Seddon on the meeting between the ARAC and NAO to discuss the charity proposal.