Campaigning for the countryside in Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside.
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The Lancashire Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural
England
Hazelwell House,
Station Road,
Bamber Bridge,
Preston,
Lancashire,
PR5 6TT
Tel: 01772 627510
Email: ruralengland@btconnect.com
Registered Charity Numbers : 221244 and 1107376
The Lancashire Branch of CPRE is a Company Limited By Guarantee registered in England, no. 5291461
Lancashire CPRE is a charity and provides all the content of these pages free of charge to the general public.
If you use the resources provided please consider joining us or making a donation to help us carry out our activities.
What are the issues for the countryside?
Forests and woodlands in England cover about 7 per cent of the land surface; we are the second least wooded country in Europe. The Government has expressed a desire to significantly increase the amount of tree cover in England over the next 50 years. Forestry is an important form of land management and a valuable 'natural' and renewable resource in its own right.
The England Forestry Strategy sets out the Government's priorities for achieving a sustainable future for English forestry. It provides an opportunity to take forward forestry and woodland policy in an integrated and holistic way, combining social, economical and environmental benefits.
Forestry and woodland policy has important implications for the countryside;
- enhancement - forestry has the potential to satisfy a wide range of environmental and other objectives, including timber production and rural enterprise, landscape enhancement, local character and distinctiveness, public recreation and enjoyment and nature conservation;
- protection - forestry is an important resource for biodiversity and cultural heritage, particularly the dwindling reserves of ancient semi-natural woodland. It is therefore important to the health and the fabric of the countryside that existing woodlands as well as individual trees are protected and properly managed;
- threats - if poorly located, designed or managed, new forestry can pose an environmental threat - e.g. to landscapes, archaeological heritage, wildlife and hydrology. Existing woodlands are under threat from poor or mismanagement, or even removal.
CPRE priorities
CPRE campaigns for the frameworks and mechanisms which ensure that the right trees are planted in the right places for the right reasons. Our aim it to promote multipurpose forestry by seeking to influence forestry policy, strategic planning, regulation, funding and incentives, public consultation, monitoring and evaluation.
We believe:
- forests should be planted, designed and managed for multipurpose benefits and in ways that are environmentally sustainable;
- multipurpose forestry should be delivered through a well resourced and well targeted system of grants;
- objectives and priorities for forestry should be set at a national, regional and local levels;
- forestry needs to win public support and understanding. Applications for planting, felling and restocking should therefore meet agreed environmental standards and be subject to clear public consultation procedures;
- planning controls should be extended to major planting and felling operations;
- the public's access to Forestry Commission woodlands should be protected of those woodlands are sold to the private sector.
Campaign opportunities
As part of the England Forestry Strategy, the Forestry Commission has expressed its intention to set up Regional Forest Forums and theses will be an important platform from which to encourage the strategic management of local woodlands.
Campaigners can help ensure there is a clear strategic framework for forestry and woodland at national regional and local levels by;
- urging local authorities to produce Integrated Forestry Strategies to encourage the management of existing woodlands and guide new planting to appropriate locations;
- encouraging loca authorities to build forestry and woodland objectives into their development plans and development control policies.
- ensuring that forestry and woodland objectives into their development and land management.
Campaigners can help to ensure that national and institutional structures, grants and consultation systems deliver multipurpose forestry by;
- monitoring felling and planting, and register views to the appropriate authorities;
- encouraging the local use of grants to favour the management of existing native species and make forestry more competitive with mainstream land management;
- monitoring and pressing for a halt to the Government's programme of disposing of Forestry Commission woodlands until access and environmental interests can be protected when the woodlands are sold;
- pressing for adequate public consultation systems at the local level to ensure that new planting or tree felling does not trigger environmental conflicts.
Campaigners can help secure public support for appropriate new planting and the protection and management of existing trees and woodlands by:
- dissemintating information and guidance to interested members of the public and local groups on how they can protect trees and woodlands (e.g. through Tree Preservation Orders, commenting on felling and planting proposals and consultation on strategic plans).