I asked some questions to pursue the issue of increased UK timber production. I was aware of the government plans to promote the planting of many more trees as part of its climate change policies. The net zero carbon target now drives much of government policy. The interest in this within government is intensified by the long run up to the World Climate Change conference, COP 26 which the UK will host at Glasgow in November.
Whilst in general terms the answers show continuing commitment to more tree planting, they are short on detail. The pace of change is also slow. There is a big opportunity to expand woodland areas rapidly, and to encourage timber growth in sustainable woodlands. The owners can then harvest the timber and replace the trees on a defined growing cycle. The UK’s warmer climate allows faster growth than Scandinavia and Canada where much of our timber currently comes from. The UK has substantial need of imported timber at the moment for construction, furniture and other purposes. We even import the wood to burn in the Drax power station. I will continue to press for faster action.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to encourage the use of UK-produced timber to reduce wood miles. (142750)
Tabled on: 25 January 2021
Answer:
Rebecca Pow:
This spring we will publish a new England Tree Strategy, setting out plans to increase tree planting in line with our manifesto commitments, and to increase the management of existing woodlands. These actions will provide more domestic timber now and, in the future, reducing our reliance on imports. To drive sustainable investment into UK woodlands we also want to see the expansion and use of the Grown in Britain Certification mark throughout the supply chain, reducing the carbon footprint of the construction industry.
The answer was submitted on 02 Feb 2021 at 17:45.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will work with Drax power station and UK forestry to source UK biomass to replace imports. (142751)
Tabled on: 25 January 2021
Answer:
Rebecca Pow:
Our woodlands provide habitats, capture carbon and provide sustainable sources of fibre and fuel. We are seeking to increase planting across the UK in this parliament, and to bring more woodlands into management. This will increase the domestic supply of wood for a range of markets.
We are also developing a Biomass Strategy for publication in 2022 and will issue a call for evidence shortly. As part of the strategy we will review the amount of sustainable biomass available in the UK, and how this could be best utilised across the economy to achieve net zero.
The answer was submitted on 02 Feb 2021 at 17:30.
February 5, 2021
Wood by name, wood by nature. If only every tree grown in the UK was a redwood then we’d be able to solve our wood problem over night. I’ll get ‘mi coat’
February 5, 2021
For carbon capture, restoration of peatland, and development of new areas, is a much superior approach than planting trees. Trees stop growing. And when they are chopped down the captured carbon is rereleased into the atmosphere. Peatland bogs can keep growing forever.
+ Peatlands cover just 3% of the worldâs surface but hold nearly 30% of the soil carbon
+ The UK has 13% of all the worldâs blanket bog
That 60% of the UKâs peatland is in Scotland should be reason enough to keep the Union together in the interest of reaching our climate change goals.
Bogland maintenance/restoration is cheap. As would be the development of new bogs in suitable locations.
February 5, 2021
Many deep peat bogs in Scotland were dug up and replaced with concrete for wind turbines. Each turbine has a concrete base the size of an Olympic swimming pool.
February 5, 2021
Dear Sir John,
Can you please look into slashing the cost of planting a street tree in London. I don’t know the details off-hand but it’s not cheap. I bet lots of people would plant far more trees on their London street if the price dropped significantly.
Scientists have proved that trees in cities GREATLY reduce crime because of the effect of green chemicals in the tree on people’s mental state. It actually causes a positive chemical reaction in people’s brains.
But trees also improve people’s mental health in general. Not just from the happy chemicals they induce, but also just seeing these wonderful things with birds chirping from them etc.
More trees would greatly bring down pollution in the streets.
And way, way more trees in London would just make London look even more beautiful, making it an even more attractive place for people, in the financial and business sectors, to come and live. A beautiful or cool place to live is an important place that determines why someone in business would ship his whole family over to a particular city to live in.
Plus, it’s our capital city. Imagine if London became the capital of trees. Imagine walking down all these lovely streets lined with beautiful trees.
February 5, 2021
I forgot, more trees in London, would also boost London’s tourism industry – but able to attract even higher-paying tourists.
February 5, 2021
@ED M; I guess the cost of getting a permit for street tree planting is in the underground surveying that needs to be done to safeguard against later root damage to drains and services. If the idea is to reduce CO2 pollution, a simpler solution might be to increase grassed areas, considering that cycling is actually not that green when all factors are accounted for (and is probably the most dangerous form of inner-city transportation) perhaps cycle lanes could be made into wider grass verges?
February 5, 2021
Many London householders have removed trees and paved front gardens. This is to gain off street parking.
Some people are not garden lovers.
February 5, 2021
Peter, I just read a tweet from the RHS that says ‘Front garden greenery in the UK has grown by an area 70 x the size of Hyde Park since 2015″…”since 2015 over 1 million more front gardens contain nothing but greenery, and the number of front gardens containing no plants at all has halved” so not all bad news.
February 5, 2021
Ed M
Local authorities are cutting them down in certain cities and towns as they are too expensive to maintain and the root systems damage road and pavements.
February 5, 2021
Good morning . What a cracking idea , however many trees that have been planted over the years in towns and cities are now being felled due to the untold damage to pathways, drains ,sewer pipes etc which are directly caused by tree roots. Properties are also now being greatly effected with damage and subsidence . Walk down any suburban street with trees and you will see for your self . A sad but true fact .
February 5, 2021
Ed M,
What are the green chemicals? Could we just take a lead from Aldous Huxley and simply drug everyone?
I too am pro city tree, but note a few things about much of the USA and S.America urban tree research. Some of the beneficial crime reduction effects are seen during planting years i.e. can be transient. Larger effects are in impoverished city areas possibly with two mechanisms: (i) displacement of crime -as planted areas appear more cared for and (ii) sun/rain protection encouraging more pedestrians (hence eyeballs, relationships etc) in previously high car density areas. I haven’t seen England data.
I live in a sh***y area in the Midlands. I have noticed two tree effects near me. Firstly the existing mature trees block the drains every year as the council is incapable of timely clearing of the leaves, this year has been made worse by the newly pillared cycleways making drains inaccessible to the large roadsweepers. Secondly almost all of the recently planted saplings have been pulled up / snapped off including stakes (but perhaps those got the anger out of the people concerned).
Anyway, I agree with you but wonder how the data in England looks, and whether councils are as generally rubbish as mine at plannong and maintaining.
February 5, 2021
I lived near Crystal palace in the 80’s and you could walk along it’s main street, look north and see nothing but trees with the high-rises north of the Thames poking up in the far distance.
February 5, 2021
The current Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, when elected had a manifesto committment to plant 2 million trees in his four year term. As soon as he was elected he downgraded this to 400 thousand trees in nine years. I’m not aware of how many he’s actually planted to date, about 280k I think. The government should take over from this incompetent.
February 5, 2021
Britain has lost much of its natural woodland, sadly some of this has been lost through housing development. The area where I was born and grew up is one such example. It would be lovely if some of the woodland lost can be allowed to go back to nature and for our native trees to grow, or will be just boring rows and rows of pine?
My concern is, is all this tree growing going to encroach on existing farmland? We need more land to grow food not less. We already have swathes of farmland which is permanent grass (PG01) and landowners have received money from taxpayers (previously CAP) for not growing food. Is this merely a replacement for the PG01?
This government needs to get its act together and apply some logic and joined up thinking. You can’t be more self sufficient in food growth, grow more trees and keep building more housing due to continued legal and illegal immigration on a finite land mass.
February 5, 2021
J Bush,
There is certainly an argument for green vertical cities rather than increased low level suburban spread.
February 5, 2021
@ Caterpillar
They tried that, in the 1060s and 70s, albeit under a different name, and it was a failure because the families who lived in them hated it. So much so, many of the sky rise flats have since been demolished because most people like to live on the ground, have their own outside space and a place on the same level where your children can easily go out to play in a safe environment.
I would certainly not like to live multiple floors off the ground, with no garden and no outdoor space of my own, whilst I do acknowledge some would be happy with that arrangement, I suspect many more would not.
February 5, 2021
Vertical Green Cities? You mean Mega Hi-Rises?
OK I guess until you get a fire in one – I used to stay in a certain West London hotel and always asked to be given a room on one of the lower floors. The extensible ladders the London Fire Brigade had back then only reached up to about the 12-13th floor from memory – not much use if you were up twice as high as that. Of course, it might be very different these days…
February 5, 2021
I also grew up next to woodland, all bare now for around 35 years with new houses built all around the edge. It could be replanted. It would be sensible to plant near to Drax if there is the land.
There are also many overly large trees right to the edge of roads with branches frequently falling off into the road and some of the banks they were grown in not capable of supporting the new heights of the trees.
The trees builders put into housing estates are silly too. The trees they choose for cost reasons grow too high too quickly and take all the light out of the homes. The Council only trims the side of them occasionally in a careless way to cut the branches off that would impede a bus. There is no thought to pedestrians with low branches and roots of the large trees that are often tarmacked over.
February 5, 2021
Not on our estate, I’m pleased to say.
The builders planted the trees on the house owners property and not the land adopted by the Council. The mature trees are of a modest size, about 6 metres, and are not expensive to maintain. The most common are a wild form of ‘Pear’. These trees are now more than 25 years old, look good all year round and are not large.
It can be done with some thoughtful planning.
February 5, 2021
That is sensible a nice fruit tree, our estates have horse chestnuts, some on the estate are now around 40ft high and rapidly growing and some terribly diseased and huge sycamores that are horrendous to look after. Towering ugly trees I donât even know the type that snatch everyoneâs light.
February 5, 2021
Good morning.
Where, in England, are we going to plant all these trees after we have concreted over most of it, or turned it into poly-tunnels ? What will be left for the natural environment ? Remember, these trees are for profit, not for a sustainable natural environment. ie They are going to be chopped down at some point to be used in the construction of houses on the land that they have just been dispossessed of.
Canada and Scandinavia have two things in common that England, because that is the country we are talking about in this UK Government strategy – Land and low population density. Who cares if it takes 10 times longer to grow a tree there if they have 100 times the land mass.
It all comes down to cost. Is it cheaper to get it from somewhere else ? If it is, then there will be no investment just more government subsidy to wealthy landowners, much like the wind farms and energy.
STOP THIS !!
February 5, 2021
The net zero carbon agenda is totally insane and nased on bogus science, as is importing wood to burn at Drax. Surely even this current government know this? Get Lords Peter Lilly, Nigel Lawson and Matt Ridley to advise.
February 5, 2021
Lifelogic,
please stop with the climate change denial. It is very out of date and not helpful to the debate. I have no objection to you having issues about the green revolution, as I am sure money is being wasted, but to claim the world does not need to reduce carbon emissions is flat out wrong.
The people you cite are a little odd. Matt Ridley is a journalist, has no training in the area. If you wish to see his ‘hockey-stick’ analysis being ripped apart by a professional, I am happy to post the link. Nigel Lawson was a fine chancellor but again has no qualifications in this area beyond an opinion. Peter Lily is again a politician not a professional meteorologist. I think you may be listening to the wrong people.
February 5, 2021
Well I read Maths, Physics and Engineering (Cambridge and Manchester). Most sensible scientists I know agree with me and certainly do in private (unless they are seeking grant funding). CO2 is clearly just one of thousands of factors affecting the climate. Many are not known or even knowable (CO2 it is not even the main greenhouse gas). Peter Lilley & Matt Ridley both read Nat Sci I think Lawson ended up with a PPE degree (but I think hecstarted with Maths) but I might be wrong here. You are not really trying to defend the hockey stick are you?
February 5, 2021
I suppose being an ignoramus you will have swallowed the govt line that the ÂŁ96 pa increase in
just approved by OFGEN has nothing to do with the climate change committee and the 2.1 million accounts in arrears are not a cause of huge misery for the poor.
This is a regressive tax on the poor and where I live I can see that the rich are the recipients.
February 6, 2021
+1 also it destroys job and the ability of the UK to compete. More expensive energy and lower pay and fewer jobs too.
February 5, 2021
We would need an area the size of Wales to keep the Drax zero carbon EU fiddle going.
When I built a house extension a few years ago, I was pleasantly surprised to find that all of the structural timber was British and of very good quality.
February 5, 2021
All the information on burning trees is covered in Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air.
February 5, 2021
An excellent (and free) book Kwasi Kwatang should read it, as should anyone else who want to understand some basic energy realities.
February 5, 2021
Lord Lawson won a maths scholarship to Christchurch but switched to PPE one of rather few who came out sound despite this!
February 5, 2021
Drax published Annual Accounts for 2019 demonstrate the massive subsidies they received for transporting US forests across the Atlantic as wood chips and burning them as biomass, with ROCs earning ÂŁ528m and CfDs an extra ÂŁ261m. They say it cost around ÂŁ700 million to convert three generating units, not a bad return.
A Renewables Obligation Certificate (ROC) is essentially a green energy document that formed part of the Renewables Obligation (RO) scheme, introduced in England, Wales and Scotland in 2002 and Northern Ireland in 2005, which obligated electricity suppliers to buy a specific proportion of their energy from renewable sources. These certificates were then be bought by electricity suppliers for a premium on top of what they had paid for the electricity and shown to the energy regulator Ofgem to prove they had met their obligation.
in 2017, Ofgem said that all new generating capacity would not be eligible for the scheme after 31 March, but all capacity before then would still be viable for ROCs over 20-year periods until the end of 2037. Drax conversions took place in 2016, so their subsidy income is guaranteed for the duration.
The Contract for Difference (CfD) scheme is the governmentâs main mechanism for supporting the deployment of new low carbon electricity generation. It is said to have been designed to reduce the cost of capital for developers bringing forward low-carbon projects with high up-front costs and long payback times, whilst minimising costs to consumers. But there are costs for consumers.
To top it all , Drax is represented on the Climate Change Committee, where many of the policies recommended by that committee are beneficial to their business.
February 5, 2021
They had planned several more Drax power stations. Thank Prof MacKay for working the figures and putting a brake on it.
February 5, 2021
@Mark B; If you care to look at a scalable satellite image of the British Isles you will notice GB&NI is still a green and pleasant land, the notion that most of the UK “has been concreted over” is just the usual NIMBY hyperbole. There is a lot of arable farm land that can not be farmed (at least mechanically) but could be used to plant trees and still allow managed animals to graze.
One type of tree that we do need to see growers replant prime agricultural land are fruit trees, now we do not have to accept lower quality fruit from the EU27!
February 5, 2021
I understand that Apple wood is extremely suitable for making furniture so they can be useful when they are no longer productive.
February 5, 2021
It takes 4 acres of land to sustain a person, England has 56 million people on 37 million acres , so 0.7 of an acre, and when you strip out the Pennies, Moors , and land already concreted over it is a lot less than that. This is why we are being forced into living cold, bleak, vegetarian lives to fit with their mass immigration and climate change agenda, for the sums don’t add up with these contradictory policies , unless they force us to live a miserable existence .
The choice to not have this over population policy and a more enjoyable and sustainable country is not a choice they will offer us, for the climate change comrades love the idea of interfering in our lives, and the state loves it authoritarianism , as we see with Covid.
February 5, 2021
Approximately 20.7% of England is countryside. So a lot of England’s ‘green and pleasant land’ is either rural for growing food, beit vegetables for animals, and much of the rest cannot be built on. i.e The Pennines, the Lake District in Cumbria, Snowdonia in Wales and the Derbyshire and Yorkshire dales, which is hilly and rocky and suitable only really for sheep farming. There is also marshland and flood plains, mainly in the south, some of which as already been built on with dire effects.
February 5, 2021
Well said. We are a small country and one of the most densely populated. Planting trees is a nice to have policy but one we can ill afford at present. The government should be concentrating on growing more food and reducing immigration. If it wants cheap energy then reopen some of the profitable coal pits. We have finite space and chunks of land are falling into the sea from the east and south coast every year. This Government needs to get its priorities right instead of playing to the climate change lobbyists and wealthy landowners. Why is it that they concentrate on minor issues and never sort out the major ones? The building of new houses with the loss of farmland where I live is frightening.
February 5, 2021
I like trees. The thing is, the government is more interested in stripping out trees to clear land for houses, to house the immigrant tide the government needs to massage and support its spiralling national debt.
Can we count on the delegates to the World Climate Change conference to tell us we all need to fly less, having themselves just taken long haul flights to attend the conference?
February 5, 2021
Can we count of the delegates to the World Climate Change conference to address population growth?
February 5, 2021
Actually – as a country we are planting more trees than we are cutting down. Not as many more as we should. But we are still planting more.
But today wouldnât be the same as every other day if at least one of you were not blaming hoards of imaginary immigrants for something or other.
February 5, 2021
If the aim is to reduce CO2 (not that this is needed or even positive on balance) then we need to chop trees down, use all the wood to build in (long lasting) buildings or other products (or to just bury it) then plant new tree to replace. Otherwise forests make little or no net CO2 difference. But on balance a bit more CO2 plant and tree food is a good thing.
BBC had lots of nice picture of LEDs lighting up plants to enhance growth today. Electrical energy use to grow plants. At best perhaps 1 or 2% of the energy ends up as extra plant and 99% is wasted as heat. But nice pictures for the BBC to show. Coal is old wood so is there much difference between burning coal or imported new wood at Drax? Yes the latter is far less efficient and thus stupid.
February 5, 2021
Andy, There are officially 9.2 million people in the UK who were not born in the UK ONS to mid 2020). Unofficially, using the NInos, there’s probably considerably more – 12 million? – 15 million? Who knows? – the government certainly doesn’t. And neither do you, apparently. These people are not imaginary, rather it is your assertions that are.
February 5, 2021
It’s being floated today that green/yellow party are considering taxing meat and cheeses at 40% to reduce our carbon footprint. Poorer families going to love this policy whilst they struggle to feed their families. Who’s going to vote for the Tory’s anymore? Banning our cars and boilers, highest taxation in 70 years, 20-30% of our electricity Bill’s are on eco windmill rubbish, no energy security as they import electric and gas via EU, leaving us vulnerable to blackouts and blackmail, planning on attacking people on pensions as they dont pay National insurance. Mass immigration policy, no action on the boat people, the Northern Ireland debacle, selling out our fishermen, the list goes on and on. We really need better Government and the Tory’s have blown it, again and again. PC and wokeness anyone?
February 7, 2021
Again, âthe highest taxation in 70 yearsâ. Any proof of that assertion?
February 5, 2021
The whole net zero scam is going to bankrupt us. The French government has been fined 1 Euro for failing to implement the climate change commitment.
As usual other countries will ignore these things but we will gold plate any and every band wagon idiocy going.
We’re all for a cleaner environment but not at the price of living in tents and eating grass.
Trump was 100% right in calling out the scam to impoverish the masses to enrich the few.
February 5, 2021
Ian Wragg
+1 Totally correct.
February 5, 2021
Spot on.
February 5, 2021
What a sad life you lead. Cynicism and no hope. You have a wonderful future ahead of you. In the meantime everyone I know is the opposite and happy with it.
February 5, 2021
Spot on Ian
February 5, 2021
It is a tiny bit more complicated than that. The âŹ1 fine to the French government is indeed symbolic. But this tribunal decision opens the way for individuals being able to sue the French Government or more likely French companies for âecocideâ, which if accepted by a court could lead to a fine of up to âŹ4.5m and a jail sentence of up to 10 years for the condemned party.
Even if such actions were to be pursued I very much doubt that French people would end up living in tents and eating grass đ
February 5, 2021
You doubt it, Hefner? And what credibility can we assign to your reassurances, hmm? The aim of the more extreme eco-loons – who seem to have the ear of governments – is to get rid of most of the world’s population, whilst imposing green ideology on those who are left. All so the top politicians and the very rich can live a life of luxury and plenty as they gad about in their jets from their palaces to their islands, publicly patting themselves on their backs for “saving” the planet. You say you believe their tripe: I don’t.
February 5, 2021
Indeed Ian. I am all for planting more trees in the right places but reject the climate change scam which has been proved to be based on inaccurate and fraudulent data. It seems that the plan was “we need something to control peoples’ lives and disadvantage them to satisfy UN policies” and government meekly obeyed.
They will destroy the lives of future generations with their madcap policies before they are found out. Sadly too many have been indoctrinated Greta style through their education. We need common sense to prevail and those real scientists who have exposed the scam given credit for doing so. Reading A.W. Montfords book on the sterling efforts of McIntyre and McKitrick to expose the scam would be a good start for anyone interested.
February 5, 2021
Indeed Trump on Climate Alarmism was exactly right as was Boris some time back before Queen Carrie arrived. Biden is clearly a disaster on this, his moronic diversity rather than ability racism and much else. Rather like the BBC. Last week they had an all women Question Time about the most boring and bland one I have ever seen. Why can the BBC not find some sensible women for the programme? There are plenty about. Diversity in colour, gender, religion & sexuality but all have to be lefties, pro EU and climate alarmists.
Perhaps I’m biased but I really do think the BBC is impartial says David Mitchell in the Guardian! If you really think that mate you are round the bend!
February 5, 2021
Lifelogic, The BBC is the broadcasting arm of the Guardian.
February 5, 2021
Uncosted by Hammond/May but only a couple of trillionÂŁ.
February 5, 2021
I find it sad that so many big old trees are sent to landfill or allowed to rot in the forest while our saw mills are import from abroad. The industrial softwood plantations are another matter entirely, the plantings made after WW1 should now be coming to maturity and yielding magnificent saw logs, to rival anything from Canada. Let’s hope the wood is not just ground up to feed biomass boilers.
February 5, 2021
“allowed to rot in the forest ”
This is policy, to promote bio-diversity, beetle habitat etc.
February 5, 2021
Another quango puts in its yearly four penrith with its energy price cap. As per the norm the only real benefit is to fuel fuel users. The rural with no mains gas infrastructure will take the hit as always.
It is fine going trees but you cannot eat them. For specialist areas the wood required for furniture boat building and even construction does not all come from fast growing trees so there are extensive lead times to be considered as to volume availability to support the manufacturing process.
Willow is fine for bio mass usage but at the moment nearly all land used for “environmental renewable ” is eligible for subsidy. Yet another burden for the tax payer. Foreign owned energy companies make billions from the subsidy process and still we have not got the infrastructure to support the great green vision.
When is the country going to wake up , open their eyes and see this for what it is, bought about by the incompetence ignorance and arrogance of the majority of our politicians and their scientific advisors.
February 5, 2021
I have no argument for tree planting as long as they are planted in sensible places and not a foot from the kerb on an A road.
However, I am really concerned about this green agenda. Reading around the subject it is not being talked about just how much this will all cost – ÂŁtrillions. It will also put up the cost of heating homes affecting the poorest the most. Most of us wonât be able to afford electric cars and currently thereâs no capacity to charge them or afford to charge them once electricity goes up more. There seems an expectation for frequent breaks in the future of the electricity supply. And this is where the smart metre will switch off heating or car charging remotely.
And to top it the Chinese are concerned about global cooling in about mid 2050âs hence their building of coal fired power stations. Their concern for food means they will need to source that elsewhere.
I think the government is being sold a pup on this one!
February 5, 2021
I was fortunate enough to travel around New Zealand’s South Island a couple of years ago. Apart from the millions of sheep that made the countryside look like it had broken out in pustules! they have a thriving and well-managed forestry industry that sees their mountainsides covered in fast-growing pines ready to harvest. We have mountains looking magnificent, but not doing much else. They could give us a few pointers…….why reinvent the wheel?
February 5, 2021
Sir John
Please remind me how many woodland areas of ancient and otherwise are being destroyed for HS2?
On our local army camp broad leaf trees are being cut down for bio mass usage.
Where is the joined up thinking from the majority of your colleague’s? I respectfully suggest there isn’t any.
February 5, 2021
+1
February 5, 2021
Planting trees is just an easy cop out,rather than dealing with bigger and more difficult issues. A study found that the majority of young saplings die due to lack of care after the first few months of planting.
February 5, 2021
I have to say I like trees, but not when they cause subsidence, disrupt drains and services, or cast a huge near permanent shadow over your house or garden.
I thought the Government were thinking of banning or restricting Wood burning stoves because of air pollution.?
Whatever the Government decide, please let us have a joined up plan that makes sense.
February 5, 2021
Close to buildings trees can be a pain and be very expensive to control and look after. So many councils like to cut them down in streets while protecting those on other peopleâs land with preservation orders.
February 5, 2021
This spring we will publish a new England Tree Strategy,
If ever a phrase demonstrated that government pervades too many areas of life this is it. Along side all lockdown pronouncements further proof that government does best when it does least.
February 5, 2021
All I see here is trees being cut down to make way for houses and small hawthorn hedges planted round the outside of developments. This person’s paper will come too late for 2021. You don’t plant trees from May through to September. It all sounds half-hearted, like a lot of things going on.
You need vaccination energy put into all these other areas, but my guess is neither the skill nor will is there.
February 5, 2021
You have to ask why the government has taken so long to come up with viable plans to increase the planting of trees and their resulting usage.
It’s not as though we haven’t known about the massive amount of wood we need to import for quite some time.
I look forward to November then, when our government will show itself up, once again, as very green members of this CC religion. No doubt this will cost us all dear with new pledges to introduce new taxes, further establish our reliance on French energy, and further destroy industrial potential.
Fairy tales are for the young – Time we had some adults making decisions about scientific matters, by honest interpretation.
February 5, 2021
As proved in the past swathes of land in Scotland were planted with sica spruce for the benefit of celebrities to have a tax break, but again foreign investors came over from Norway and Scandinavia and also took advantage of the country’s generosity
The scots are besotted with the F word FUNDING. I just hope that the majority of the proposed tree investment if it has to happen remains south of the border. It is quite feasible for our leader to throw millions up there to plant more trees, Scotland gets it independence and say thank you very much that will do nicely.
Projects like this must be considered on a “what if” basis. Plans should already be in place and costed for the transfer of boats from Faslane and all other MoD bases so politicians have a clear insight and understanding of what the English taxpayer would be expected to pay in the event of separation. It would also be of use to the divorce negotiators if needed. I think it is called forward planning or damage limitation.
February 5, 2021
OT; I see Ofgem has failed again, why is it always those who show loyalty, or those less able to research switching suppliers (perhaps because they have no computer skills), who get penalised? This govt needs to remember that there are a lot of ‘Red Wall’ votes that will go back to Labour now Brexit is done.
February 5, 2021
Every year Railtrack cut down thousands of nice trees in the spring when our birds are nesting in them. We should ask them if there is an alternative to cutting down these trees along the railway track embankments. On the continent they have steam devices on the engines to get the leaves off the track in the autumn.
February 5, 2021
Whilst you are on about trees, expand your horizons to look at rain forest destruction for palm oil production etc.
If our foreign aid budget is to have any value, surely buying up rain forest or working with foreign governments to ensure instant replanting, we have the world authority at Kew, to prevent loss of wild life and worse the creation of desert, would be more beneficial than bunging it to NDAs to hit our target.
Time for you to get on the back of the Secretary of State.
February 5, 2021
Kew Gardens is a lovely place to go for a stroll, but I doubt their research is much use. If it were then, by now, after all these years, they would have built up a handsome revenue from all their patents. Kew is always boasting about their research but what have they actually discovered, patented and earnt money from?
February 5, 2021
We will soon have to start growing everything at home. Seeing that the Tory cabal – (elected by a minority) – have effectively imposed sanctions on us all.
On the plus side it is brilliantly funny that Brexiteers are so angry about Brexit. It really isnât going to get better for any of you.
February 5, 2021
@Andy; Just what is your point in raising the popular vote percentage again and again, your logic would suggest you think the Labour “cabals” of 1945, 1964 and 1997 were democratically illegitimate…!
I agree with your wider argument to a point, yes the UK should be growing far more at home, we should also relearn the idea of eating what is in natural season, not expect that which is not. On the other hand, when we do need to import food, there has never been any reason, post 1972, why we could not have imported far more from outside of the European continent, other than protective EEC/EU regulations.
February 5, 2021
Andy, The only things that Leaves are fed up about are the Remain parts of the WA and the T&CA. I am surprised you are surprised about that – after all, if Remain had won but we had got a semi-Brexit you would have been frothing. Anyway how’s the vaccine shortages doing in your EU empire that you didn’t predict? I have yet to see the food and medicine shortages here that you promised from 1st January onwards. Are you going to apologise?
February 5, 2021
HS2 will destroy or irreparably damage five internationally protected wildlife sites, 693 local wildlife sites, 108 ancient woodlands and 33 legally protected sites of special scientific interest, according to the most comprehensive survey of its impact on wildlife.
I really can’t understand your post today John. Everywhere you look trees are being cut down for housing or some other project. We are burning wood for energy and some of the wood imported comes from virgin forests in Europe. Most ‘woodland’ being planted in Scotland are pines which destroy the floor beneath them providing no cover for native wildlife and no food for birds. It’s not climate change that’s destroying our planet. It’s man and their activities when policies such as these are driven through without thought as to the harm done to nature. It has to stop.
February 5, 2021
+1
February 5, 2021
I expect he is talking about ârewildingâ which means turning a percentage of farmland into forest with occasionally culled and consumed deer frolicking therein. Oh WHAT a good idea!
No plantations, no Hearts of Oak. No just weak kneed capitulation to ludicrous globalist notions!
Anyway, judging by the remarks regarding light, roots, foundations, dropping leaves and various other terrors I assume that a sterile, concretescape will be welcomed.
No need for handwringing about trees!
February 5, 2021
There are suggestions today that ministers are drawing up plans for âvaccine passportsâ to allow those whoâve had the Covid jab to go on holiday abroad.
This poses some fundamental problems – because pretty much all of the people whoâve had the jab so far are old. The rest of us have been in lockdown for the best part of a year to protect the elderly, many younger people sacrificing their livelihoods in the process, the elderly get the jab first and then bugger off to Greece for the summer before young people have even been offered the jab.
We will need vaccine passports in the end. But it must be clear that the scheme does not come into effect until everybody who wants it has received their second dose. Otherwise it creates two classes of citizens. Old people who can travel and younger people who canât.
The elderly have spent most of the last 5 years waging war on the young. At some point their constant provocation will spark a negative response which they are not expecting.
February 5, 2021
Again you expose your hatred of the elderly. Just remember that many of these people only have a few years left to enjoy a holiday abroad and that for most of their lifetime foreign holidays werenât even a possibility. It is through their sacrifice and hard work that you are able to enjoy the pampered life you lead spending many unproductive hours reading and commenting on posts here. During my working life, I certainly wouldnât have had the time to read Johnâs diary. You need to look at the hatred that consumes you and ask who it benefits.
February 5, 2021
@Andy; Why are you so obnoxious when it comes to the elderly?
Quite frankly, I think until there is more data on how effective some or all of the vaccines are at preventing transmission no one should be contemplating travel or holidaying abroad. To misquote that old saying, a rest is as good as a change, in the true meaning of a Staycation.
February 5, 2021
I really hope you can get these kind of sentiments into the manifesto of whichever bunch of moaning leftists you support – maybe even the Scottish separatists? Thatâll nail the next election for us.
February 5, 2021
‘Today wouldn’t be the same as every other day if …. Andy wasn’t having an illogical and hysterical go at people older than himself’ – please do forgive the plagiarism from an earlier malign post of yours. Do you know lots of elderly people buggering off (in your charming phrase) to Greece for the summer, because I don’t know anyone with plans to go anywhere.
However, given the state of Greece’s finances over the last few years, I should think the country would be absolutely delighted to have some people giving help to their tourist industry.
February 5, 2021
Andy, You’re the one who wanted more and harsher lockdowns, not me. Most of those who oppose the national untargeted lockdowns (including me) are Leaves. I vaguely remember that you made that connection yourself. And since you only blame the elderly for voting Leave, it is therefore completely false to blame the elderly for the lockdowns. Even if you were not habitually ageist. Have you yet managed to think of a valid reason why the UK uniquely cannot join the other 165 countries on the planet, and be independent of the EU?
February 5, 2021
NEARLY 14 million trees have been chopped down across Scotland to make way for wind turbines. The Scottish Government expects to be generate 100 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources this year â but concerns have been raised about finding a balance between green energy and sustaining forests.
Says it all really.
February 5, 2021
Does John hold sympathy with this most terrifying nonsense below?
This is why the BBC has not been hived off to the private sector. They are working with Marxist Johnson to roll out their agenda which in effect is about destroying the private and transferring assets and power to the State –
YET more juvenile reporting from the BBC (and apparently yet another âEnvironment Correspondentâ):
Helen Briggs reports: âA landmark review has called for transformational change in our economic approach to nature.
âThe long-awaited review by Prof Sir Partha Dasgupta, of the University of Cambridge, says prosperity has come at a âdevastatingâ cost to the natural world.
âThe report proposes recognising nature as an asset and reconsidering our measures of economic prosperity.
âIt is expected to set the agenda on government policy going forward.
âAt its heart is the idea that sustainable economic growth requires a different measure than Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
âProf Dasgupta said: âTruly sustainable economic growth and development means recognising that our long-term prosperity relies on rebalancing our demand of natureâs goods and services with its capacity to supply them. It also means accounting fully for the impact of our interactions with nature across all levels of society.â
âCovid-19 has shown us what can happen when we donât do this, he added.âNature is our home. Good economics demands we manage it betterâ.â
February 5, 2021
I read this too and it makes alot of sense.
February 5, 2021
Apologies to Prof Dasgupta for misspelling his name.
February 5, 2021
Almost every material aspect of the BBC has been outsourced to the private sector.
There is little left to privatise.
News gathering and production does remain in house for some reason though.
February 5, 2021
We need some clarity. Rebecca Pow refers to the new ‘England Tree Strategy’ and then the ‘Grown in Britain’ certification. Do all the Scottish products become Grown in Britain too? Obviously England will be invisible again. Will Scotland accept total invisibility too? Who is she speaking for and responsible to? Clearly she is not speaking for Scotland or Wales. And then where does Northern Ireland fit?
And can someone explain which land use is more important, trees or food production? And I’m talking about good flat fertile farmland.
February 5, 2021
The interesting thing about climate is how it affects timber density. Colder climates produce denser timber (rhe rings are closer together) and hence stronger timber. Timber grown here will be slightly weaker for any given size but will grow more quickly. Choice of species is also important. Perhaps Scots Pine or Douglass Fur for construction, Leyland Cypress for fuel? Just any old tree will not do unless it is just for aesthetics or climatic purposes.
February 5, 2021
Dear Sir John,
You and your blog been a blessing to me. Don’t agree with everything you and others say here. But I agree with a lot. And what I do agree with has really helped me to slot into place some really important jigsaw pieces of life, in particular, the one about Patriotism.
That Patriotism is a virtue, like Love of Family is virtue. How Patriotism fits in with The Beauty of the Created World and how we’re meant to be Stewards of this world. How Patriotism is like a Faberge Egg. How we should be trying to build up our country into something beautiful and where everything slots nicely into place (but with mystery too – like we find in the arts).
I’m going to keep you in my prayers for a while (on my prayer list for people like my family / friends / acquaintances) whilst I do other things.
Thank you, Best, Ed, London
February 5, 2021
The lack of detail about tree planting schemes has caused three years of delay to his plans, so says farmer Harry Metcalf in a YouTube video from December 2020 titled “Time to look at the financials for Harry’s Farm”.
From 8 minutes into that video for the next six Harry discusses Defra’s plans that include phasing out the single farm payment scheme. He raises material concerns. In an earlier video he opines Defra is now more concerned with soil health, cover crops, pollen-nectar mixes and is not actually about food production. Mr. Eustace needs a major re-think perhaps?
February 5, 2021
Is it not time that the whole subject of climate change and how we move forward is opened up to the general population? At the moment, the talk is all one way. It is taken for granted that everyone agrees when it is patently obvious that we don’t. No one is allowed to dissent. Look how David Bellamy was taken off air for having a different view. We have never voted for any of these vast changes to our life styles that is planned as it wasn’t in any manifesto.
February 5, 2021
Dorothy, Exactly so. The green activists say it is “the” science (when science is a process, not a fixed object), which supports CAGW. The only climate scientist I’ve managed to get a reply from contended that CAGW was invented by climate sceptics to “discredit” the science. So can the powerful who run our lives make their minds up? And can the scientists who think that man is affecting the climate, but don’t accept CAGW, please speak up and tell the governments and activists that CAGW is a hoax?
February 6, 2021
Dorothy, I agree group thinking is the failing of modern universities, they donât enjoy abstract Or alternative thinking, the person who is exceedingly bright but doesnât agree with the current Scientific belief would fail their degree if they donât fall into line and fill their essays with their professors wants.
Iâve had three children go through MA/MSc degrees and they all tell me that you have to fall in line. If you go outside the main stream you get ostracised. It is like institutional ideaism. There is only one good set of ideas and it is ours.
February 5, 2021
OT
Trigger Article 16. We want unfettered GB-NI Trade.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/573209/signatures/new
February 5, 2021
Sir JR, I see you have called for supermarkets to stock the British shellfish that can no longer be sold to the EU. This is a nice idea, but supermarkets will always buy the cheapest. Besides, it is the government’s duty to protect the interests of Britain and the British people, and you are letting them off the hook (if you will pardon the fishing reference!).
You should be demading that the government now BAN ALL IMPORTS of shellfish, so that British fishermen have a protected home market. Also, in order to stop EU fishermen catching British shellfish and taking this home with them, thus continuing to supply EU markets, you should demand that the government make it obligatory for ALL shellfish caught in British waters to be LANDED in Britain.
What say you? Or is the government too gutless to protect British fishermen and to respond to EU attacks on us?
February 5, 2021
Nick, we are told all the time how inexpensive fish is in Europe especially in Spain and France, so why is it cheaper to transport fish here? I think we need to investigate. The French minimum wage is no lower than ours, are our fishermen less productive, if so why?
February 5, 2021
John, you have a way of making this government seem so inept.
February 5, 2021
Let’s remember there is a world of difference between swathes of conifers which have little benefit for plants or wildlife and native deciduous woodland which on the whole does not have much commercial value.
February 5, 2021
The sawn soft wood we overwhelmingly import form the EU comes from Sweden Finland an d Latvia mostly .
There you have it folks Pines prefer warm countries . Poor old Sweden , but I daresay they`ll do well with Cacti. Whats the betting this means more Tree Growing grants ie just more making us pay to hide Brexit ….
February 5, 2021
When people say they want to reduce our ‘carbon footprint’, I sometimes wish that they would look at the science holistically. For example:
How much energy is requires to reduce mature trees to biomass for Drax and transport it by ship (and road) from Texas to the power station? And how much less CO2 does that produce than the locally mined coal that used to feed it?
How much energy is required to extract the precious metals (including damage to the environment from this activity) manufacture the batteries and transport them halfway round the world to the carmaker who needs them and then transport some of the cars back to where the batteries were made and finally to dispose of the batteries in an environmentally friendly manner when they reach the end of their life?
If steel is still required, I’d rather it was made with coking coal (as it must be) from a well-run mine nearby than transported from Australia or China.
February 5, 2021
O/T: What does Sir John say about a company where the top management is allowed a paid six-month maternity leave, which is denied to its lower-level employees?
February 5, 2021
During the 18th and 19th century Britain cleared the forests cut down hundreds of thousands of stout trees in Ireland to build ships for the Royal Navy. I don’t think the cost or damage has ever been estimated?
February 6, 2021
Not only in Ireland but Henry VIII also cut down trees in Hampshire. If you go to Bucklers Hard near Beaulieu you will find a great little village depicting life then and how the wood was transported from there to the ship building yards. Thank fully the trees have been replaced with the New Forest which is beautiful.
February 6, 2021
And what of the costs to Wales of the Irish viking raids in the 9th century? The interest on that would have really mounted up by now.
February 5, 2021
A French biotech startup, Valneva, was unable to obtain funding and licensing in France, set up a manufacturing site in Edinburgh, obtained funding from the UK Government, has developed a covid vaccine, and has now signed a contract for 100m doses – the UK was intelligent enough to buy options as well as full-price doses. Being the clever little speedboat instead of the tanker is starting to look like a pattern.
Trees are great – I look after three, all more than fifty years old – but this is the UK’s real natural advantage.
February 6, 2021
We want to increase UK timber production and forested areas. We want to increase the proportion of our food that is UK produced. We also want to build more houses. I’m bound to ask the question: where is the necessary land to come from? Or are we going to go for higher yields from existing land?