Source · Select Committees · Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Accepted
Paragraph: 23
The Government’s planting ambition will fail to achieve its net zero, nature recovery and biodiversity...
Recommendation
The Government’s planting ambition will fail to achieve its net zero, nature recovery and biodiversity goals unless it is able to deliver the principle of planting the ‘right tree in the right place’. This requires adequate mapping data available being available to inform planting decisions. Currently there is no clear delivery date to work by the Forestry Commission and Natural England to fill gaps in their data, or for the work on the new national habitat map and Local Nature Recovery Areas (LNRS). We recommend that, by May 2022, Defra, the Forestry Commission and Natural England set out a plan for completing the data mapping work needed to allow it to ensure trees are not planted in locations where they will damage the environment.
Government Response Summary
The Forestry Commission plans to publish an updated sensitivity map for woodland creation by the end of May 2022. The EWCO targets supplementary payments to locations where public goods can best be provided by new woodland. Targeting maps are available to help applicants identify the best places to locate new woodland.
Paragraph Reference:
23
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Forestry Commission’s ‘Low Risk Land Map for Woodland Creation’ provides an easily accessible, broad screening of the major environmental constraints and sensitivities affecting forestry projects, identifying 3.2 million hectares of low-risk land. The tool screens for protected landscapes, agriculturally high-quality land, priority habitat, important wildlife sites, deep peat, and Scheduled Monuments. The Forestry Commission plans to publish an updated sensitivity map for woodland creation by the end of May 2022. The map identifies and informs decisions by identifying landscape sensitivities as well as less productive, lower grade agricultural land. The map will reflect recent guidance to protect upland breeding wader habitat and all peaty soils in England. The sensitivity map will continue to be updated as further datasets become available, including England’s revised peat map. The England Woodland Creation Offer targets supplementary payments to locations where public goods, for example biodiversity, flood resilience, water quality improvement, health and well-being and public access, can best be provided by new woodland. Targeting maps are available on the Forestry Commission’s map browser to help applicants, in conjunction with the low-risk map for woodland creation, identify the best places to locate new woodland.