INDUSTRY body Confor has criticized today's Scottish Budget for failing to provide adequate support for productive forestry.

The Scottish Government has announced its financial spending and tax proposals for the year ahead – including spending for forestry.

This includes £46.9 million allocated for woodland creation, a 20% increase from the budget of £39.2 million from 24/25, which is expected to support over 11,000 ha of new woodland.

However, while the increase was welcomed by Scottish Forestry, Confor said it does not go far enough to mitigate the damage done by last year's Budget, which saw £32 million wiped from the woodland creation purse.

Chief executive Stuart Goodall said: "The Scottish Government funding announced today for woodland creation in 2025/26 represents a 20% increase on the current year (£46.9m against £39.2m), but that followed a huge 41% cut in the budget over the previous year.

"Confor had been seeking a modest uplift in the budget to provide for 14,000 ha of new woodland creation (£15-20m approx), and this falls well short of that.

"It is also very concerning as we understand that nearly all of the increased funding will be spent on native woodland creation rather than retaining the long-term balance of 60 % productive woodland and 40% native woodland creation.

"A failure to increase funding for productive woodland creation will both undermine achievement of the Scottish Government’s own Net Zero by 2045 target, as it is only faster growing conifers that will lock up carbon in that time-frame, and it is also a blow to Scotland’s forestry and wood processing industry which has seen confidence hit hard by the savage budget cuts made by the Government to this year's budget.

"Confor will seek further clarification from the Scottish Government, but at this time the budget announcement appears to disappoint those who want to secure Net Zero and support an industry that employs over 34,000 people and contributes £1.1bn to the economy."