Various Scottish Forestry scheme approval statistics: EIR release

Information requested

1. The number of hectares (or acres) of forestry schemes that Scottish Forestry has approved so far in 2023.

2. How many hectares (or acres) of forestry schemes that Scottish Forestry expects to approve in 2023.

3. The number of hectares (or acres) of native woodland schemes that Forestry Scotland have approved so far in 2023, broken down by the different types of native tree species in a table.

4. The number of hectares (or acres) of native woodland schemes that Forestry Scotland approved in 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018, broken down by the different types of native tree species in a table.

5. The number of native tree woodlands in hectares (or acres) that Scottish Forestry approved to be cut down, broken down by table, and including information for 2023 to date, 2022, 2021, 2019, and 2018.

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Response to your request

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception under the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested.

The exception which applies is Regulation 10(4)(a), information not held. This exception applies because some of the information requested was not held by Scottish Forestry at the time of your request, as noted below.

Please note that figures are given for financial years (e.g. ‘2023’ refers to the 2023/24 financial year) as this is how the data is reported.

1. The number of hectares (or acres) of forestry schemes that Scottish Forestry has approved so far in 2023.

Scottish Forestry collates and publishes woodland creation and restoration data on a monthly basis at: https://forestry.gov.scot/publications/support-and-regulations/forestry-grant-scheme/forestry-grant-scheme-statistics. At time of writing, the most recent release is dated 29 September 2023.

As of that release, as shown in table 5b, 11,787 hectares of forestry schemes have been given approval by Scottish Forestry for planting in 2023, with 6,399 of those hectares being for native woodland schemes.

2. How many hectares (or acres) of forestry schemes that Scottish Forestry expects to approve in 2023.

Scottish Forestry supports the woodland creation targets set out in the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan and the Forestry Strategy. It is for landowners to bring forward woodland creation schemes for regulatory approval, and once approved those schemes are delivered by land owners.

Approval of schemes happens throughout the year, and many factors can determine whether schemes are bought forward or modified.

3. The number of hectares (or acres) of native woodland schemes that Forestry Scotland [sic] have approved so far in 2023, broken down by the different types of native tree species in a table.

Our published information gives the breakdown according to grant options and this is set out in the table below.

Forestry Grant Scheme option (native planting)	Approved to date in 2023 of 29 September 2023), hectares
Native Broadleaves	1,954
Native Broadleaves in Northern and Western Isles	16
Native Low Density	270
Native Scots Pine	2,017
Native Upland Birch	1,645
Natural Regeneration	497

4. The number of hectares (or acres) of native woodland schemes that Forestry Scotland [sic] approved in 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018, broken down by the different types of native tree species in a table.

These figures are available in our monthly publication of Forestry Grant Scheme statistics: https://forestry.gov.scot/publications/support-and-regulations/forestry-grant-scheme/forestry-grant-scheme-statistics – sort by Date > Descending for the latest publication. The figures are available in Table 5b – Approved Woodland Creation Options by Claim Year. Any publication from April 2023 onward will contain the complete figures for the previous years requested.

5. The number of native tree woodlands in hectares (or acres) that Scottish Forestry approved to be cut down, broken down by table, and including information for 2023 to date, 2022, 2021, 2019, and 2018.

The data available does not identify native or non-native areas; as such, we have provided the information we do hold.

Felling Permission Applications only – approved area per financial year Financial year Total clear felling area (ha) Conifer area (ha) (>96%) Broadleaved area (ha) 2016-17 4,990 4,882 108 2017-18 4,272 4,171 101 2018-19 4,359 4,240 119 2019-20 4,056 3,953 103 2020-21 3,340 3,232 108 2021-22 7,092 6,824 268 2022-23 6,694 6,572 122

Long Term Forest Plans only – felling permission approval for each plan phase (conifer accounts for at least 97% of the figure)

Financial Year	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	Grand Total
Clearfell yr 1-5	5,325	5,712	2,794	2,563	3,224	2,965	2,216	24,800
Clearfell yr 6-10	4,398	5,326	1,875	1,765	1,583	1,903	1,831	18,681
Grand Total	9,723	11,038	4,669	4,329	4,807	4,868	4,048	43,481

For the last seven years for which we have complete data, the figures are as follows for the area of approved clear felling. Of this area, at least 96% is for conifer forest:

Financial year	Total clear felling area approved (hectares)
2016-17	21,292
2017-18	20,989
2018-19	14,735
2019-20	13,337
2020-21	13,330
2020-22	16,365
2020-23	15,113

It is important to note that:

• Felling approvals are issued in a number of ways, including as standalone Felling Permissions, where felling is approved for a two year period, and Long-Term Forest Plans, where felling is approved for a ten year period. As approvals can be valid for several years, and as Scottish Forestry does not monitor the area of forest that has been felled each year (but rather monitors the restocking of felled areas), the area of forest actually felled in a particular year will vary from the area approved.
• Local authorities may also approve felling as part of planning permissions; these figures are not held or collated by Scottish Forestry.
• Where a felling permission application or long-term forest plan proposes to clear fell, selective fell, or fell individual trees (as opposed to managing the woodland via thinning or coppicing), if the application is approved we will normally require that the area in question be restocked with trees in accordance with our Felling Permission Guidance. Approved felling is therefore typically not a net loss to woodland creation, as the area will subsequently be reforested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.