Question reference: S6W-25585
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 20 February 2024
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Current status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 February 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of new woodland creation it expects will be delivered through sources of funding other than the Forestry Grant Scheme in the 2024-25 planting scheme, and for each subsequent planting season.
Answer
The Scottish Government supports new woodland creation on privately owned land through the Forestry Grant Scheme. Planting is recorded against financial years and in 2022-23, that last year for which published data is available, all recorded new woodland creation in Scotland was supported by Forestry Grant Scheme funding. Many of the new woodland creation schemes in 2022-23 benefited from other sources of funding, although no significant new woodland creation took place without Forestry Grant Scheme funding.
Whilst other sources of funding improve the attractiveness of woodland creation to landowners and can reduce the level of public funding required, we would expect very little new woodland creation on private land to be delivered in 2024-25 without receiving some support from the Forestry Grant Scheme.