This piece is an extract from our A View from the Forest (previously Forestry Features) newsletter, which is emailed out at 4PM every Wednesday with a round-up of the week's top stories.
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REBECCA Pow? Gone. Trudy Harrison? Gone. Therese Coffey? Gone. Steve Barclay? Clinging on, for now.
For the first time since 2010, it’s all change at Defra; or at least it’s a different kind of change, given the Conservatives’ 14 years in power saw 10 environment secretaries (Ranil Jayawardena, remember him?) and more forestry ministers than seemed healthy for a department promising big climate-centric ambitions.
But after Labour swept to a stonking majority, gone are most of the MPs to have overseen the department for the last decade and a half, either jumping beforehand (Ms Harrison) or being pushed out by the electorate (Ms Pow and Ms Coffey). Some, like Mr Barclay, now shadow environment secretary after his brief sojourn in the senior role, just about managed to hold onto their seats.
In their place we find the first Labour environment secretary since Hilary Benn in 2010. Steve Reed OBE, the MP for Streatham and Croydon North, is tasked with leading the department that oversees public forestry in England at a time when the sector continues to wrestle with conflicting demands put on it (both from within and outwith the industry).
What do we know about Mr Reed’s forestry credentials? His background doesn’t suggest much in the way of an intimate knowledge of the timber trade. Previously a councillor in Lambeth, he worked in publishing before entering politics. His term as shadow environment secretary (between September 2023 and his appointment last week) passed without any significant woodland-related activity. At least his voting record has always broadly swayed in favour of environmental issues, according to TheyWorkforYou.
“It is the privilege of my life to lead this department and serve our great country,” he said in the wake of his appointment. “The work starts now.”
That work will encompass the creation of three new national forests in England – a manifesto promise from the Labour government – and the planting of millions of trees. At the time of writing, we don’t yet know what that will mean in terms of species, location, or any future productivity. Given England’s woodland creation last year was weighted heavily in favour of broadleaved species (about 90 per cent to coniferous’ 10 per cent), the signs don’t exactly point to a softwood boom anytime soon.
And that should be concerning.
“Forestry in England has seen an encouraging upward momentum in the past few years, as evidenced by the increase in tree planting revealed by the recently released statistics,” said Confor’s England manager, John Bruce. “However, there is still plenty of work to be done to ensure that softwood-producing forests are prioritised appropriately to meet the country’s timber needs, and in turn help deliver the government’s net-zero target.”
Mr Reed and the next forestry minister – whose appointment will likely be confirmed soon – will be given a period of goodwill by the forestry industry. But that could be over sooner rather than later if those warnings about England’s timber needs aren’t appreciated.
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