Tree planting data spanning from 2018/19 to 2022/23: EIR release

Information requested

Data relating to tree planting and similar activity spanning from 2018/19 to 2022/23.

I'm aware that this data may be held by various government agencies including Forestry and Land Scotland, Scottish Forestry and NatureScot. In such cases, please promptly advise whether I should instead direct any of the below questions to any of these agencies).

Please break all data down by financial year, type of woodland (conifer/broadleaf and, ideally by individual tree species) and location (coordinates are preferred).

Please also specify the former land use of each plantation, and whether any new planting has taken place on peatland. In such cases, please specify the depth of peat in cm at each plantation.

Please tell me:

– The amount of new woodland planted.

– The current amount of native woodland.

– The amount of new native woodland planted.

– The assessed condition of existing native woodland (good, poor.) etc.

– The amount of native woodland restored into satisfactory condition.

– The amount of ancient woodland.

– The assessed condition of ancient woodland (good, poor.) etc.

– The amount of ancient woodland restored into satisfactory condition.

– The amount of money given in grants for planting trees (including the grantee and the amount awarded).

– The number of complaints made against new plantations by local residents (briefly detailing each complaint).

– The number of appeals from local residents against new plantations (advising how many were successful).

– The number of red band needle blight cases identified.

– How much land government agencies have bought for the sole purpose of tackling climate change (including the type of activity to occur – e.g. tree planting or peatland restoration).

Response

Please see below and attached for some of the information we hold in relation 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 regulation 10(4)(a) (Information not held at time of request) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested, because it is either not held by Scottish Forestry, or because the necessary variables are held in individual records but our computer systems do not allow us to collate them into presentable information. Please see individual question responses below for details of where this exception applies.
In general, Scottish Forestry only holds information on woodlands created and/or managed by private entities, where we are the grant provider and/or regulator for those woodlands. Other bodies may hold some elements of the information you are seeking:
o Forestry and Land Scotland will hold information on those woodlands managed as part of Scotland’s national forests and land.
o Forest Research provides forestry-related research and overall statistics.
o NatureScot is responsible for elements of woodland conservation (including Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Special Areas of Conservation).

Where we do not hold information but we believe other bodies may do so, we have aimed to provided signposting to those bodies, and where appropriate to the information we believe they hold. However, this signposting should not be taken as accurate or complete without reference to the holding body.

• An exception under regulation 10(4)(b) (Manifestly unreasonable requests) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested, due to the high number of records covered by your request and therefore the high burden of collating and presenting the information. Please see below for details of where this exception applies.
• An exception under regulation 11(2) (Personal data relating to third party) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested, as noted in individual responses below.

I'm interested in data relating to tree planting and similar activity spanning from 2018/19 to 2022/23.

I'm aware that this data may be held by various government agencies including Forestry and Land Scotland, Scottish Forestry and NatureScot. In such cases, please promptly advise whether I should instead direct any of the below questions to any of these agencies).

- Please break all data down by financial year, type of woodland (conifer/broadleaf and, ideally by individual tree species) and location (coordinates are preferred).

Please see below for individual breakdowns by year, type of woodland, and location data where available.

- Please also specify the former land use of each plantation, and whether any new planting has taken place on peatland. In such cases, please specify the depth of peat in cm at each plantation.

Where peat is present its depth is typically not consistent across a woodland creation site, but can change significantly across a site, so this element of the question is likely to be unanswerable.

Otherwise, this information is not held by Scottish Forestry, as while we hold copies of individual Forestry Grant Scheme applications (subject to the retention approach set out in our published Records Management Policy), our current computer systems do not hold the information you have asked for in a searchable or collatable format.

In order to produce it, we would need to undertake a manual review of each individual case file, and as we approve in the region of 400 woodland creation applications per year, this would equate to approximately 2,000 applications over the period requested.

This would require experienced Woodland Officers or similarly knowledgeable staff to undertake such a review, and at an estimate of an hour per application to review each application and determine the previous land use and presence or otherwise of peatland, we estimate that this would take around 2,000 hours of staff time. At 37 hours per week, this would represent approximately 54 weeks of a full-time officer’s working time.

Under regulation 10(4)(b) of the Environmental Information Regulations:
“A Scottish public authority may refuse to make environmental information available to the extent that–
[…]
(b)the request for information is manifestly unreasonable”

The Scottish Information Commissioner has provided guidance that this definition includes requests that:
“would impose a significant burden on the public authority […] where complying with it would require a disproportionate amount of time, and the diversion of an unreasonable proportion of its resources, including financial and human, away from other statutory functions. The authority should be able to demonstrate why other statutory functions take priority over its statutory duties under FOISA. If the public authority does not perform statutory functions, it should demonstrate why its core functions are of a higher priority than the statutory requirement to respond to information requests.”

We consider that the diversion of this amount of experienced officer time would meet these criteria, as it would have a significant negative impact on our ability to deliver our statutory responsibility to promote sustainable forest management and our core functions of supporting and delivering the management and expansion of Scotland’s forests in line with the Scottish Government’s Forestry Strategy.

Under regulation 10(1) of the EIRs:
“A Scottish public authority may refuse a request to make environmental information available if –
(a) there is an exception to disclosure under paragraph (4) or (5); and
(b) in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in making the information available is outweighed by that in maintaining the exception.”

We consider that the public interest in making the information available is outweighed by the diversion of resources required to make it available and the associated impact on the delivery of our core functions.

We deal with all issues at application level to ensure conformity with the UK Forestry Standard, including provisions relating to land use and peatland. Please see our website pages on protecting and managing soil in forests for more information.

Please tell me:
– The amount of new woodland planted.

Scottish Forestry collates and publishes woodland creation and restoration data on a monthly basis on our Forestry Grant Scheme statistics page. At time of writing, the most recent release is for October 2023.

Table 8, Claimed Woodland Creation Options by Claim Year provides figures for the areas of woodland for which grant claims were received by year, broken down by woodland type.

Locations of areas for which grant claims have been made are available on our Open Data Portal under Forestry Grant Scheme Options and Claims > FGS Woodland Creation Claims. The available filters can be used to narrow the data down to the required time period.

Please note that these figures only represent woodlands planted or restored using the grant funding schemes administered by Scottish Forestry. For example, these figures will not include woodlands planted by landowners without support from those grant schemes, or created by Forestry and Land Scotland on nationally owned land.

– The current amount of native woodland.

This information is not held by Scottish Forestry. The latest National Statistics on forestry produced by Forest Research were released on 28 September 2023 and are available here: Forestry Statistics and Forestry Facts & Figures. Chapter 5, Environment presents a breakdown of woodland area by woodland type (table 5.1a).

– The amount of new native woodland planted.

Please see below table:

Scotland Private Sector Native Woodland Creation Areas
Year	Native WC Planting Area (ha)	Total New WC Planting (ha)	Proportion Native Planting (%)
2018/19	4,194	10,187	41%
2019/20	4,494	10,773	42%
2020/21	3,421	10,089	34%
2021/22	4,362	9,854	44%
2022/23	2,876	8,018	36%

Please note that this data does not include woodland creation by Forestry and Land Scotland.

The following options constitute native woodland for the purposes of our reporting:
• Native Broadleaves
• Native Broadleaves in Northern and Western Isles
• Native Low Density
• Native Scots Pine
• Native Upland Birch
• Natural Regeneration

The FGS Woodland Creation Claims map can be filtered by FGS option to display each of these categories.

– The assessed condition of existing native woodland (good, poor.) etc.

This information is not held by Scottish Forestry. The National Forest Inventory, produced and held by Forest Research, includes reporting on Woodland Ecological Condition, which is available here: NFI Woodland Ecological Condition.

– The amount of native woodland restored into satisfactory condition.

This information is not held by Scottish Forestry and other than as noted above, we are not aware of other bodies that would hold it. The restoration of ancient or native woodland is not currently a legal requirement, and as such there is no reporting requirement.

– The amount of ancient woodland.

This information is not held by Scottish Forestry. The Ancient Woodland Inventory, held by NatureScot, is the dataset that includes known woodlands continuously wooded since 1750:
Ancient Woodland Inventory (Scotland) - data.gov.uk
A guide to understanding the Scottish Ancient Woodland Inventory (AWI) | NatureScot

– The assessed condition of ancient woodland (good, poor.) etc.

This information is not held by Scottish Forestry and we are not aware of a single comprehensive record of ancient woodland condition.
• NatureScot may hold the data on condition of native or ancient woodland features that are designated or notified in relation to Sites of special scientific interest or Special Areas of Conservation.
• FLS may also hold own data for ancient semi-natural woodlands and plantation on ancient woodland sites which includes extent and condition, as well as restoration programmes.

– The amount of ancient woodland restored into satisfactory condition.

This information is not held by Scottish Forestry and other than as noted above, we are not aware of other bodies that would hold it. The restoration of ancient or native woodland is not currently a legal requirement, and as such there is no reporting requirement.

– The amount of money given in grants for planting trees (including the grantee and the amount awarded).

Total grant figures are available in our Forestry Grant Scheme statistics.
Please see attached for amounts by individual grant. The spreadsheet contains:
• 1 tab for planting funded under the Agroforestry Option.
• 1 tab for woodland creation funded under the Woodland Creation and Woodland Improvement Grant (WIG) Habitats and Species – New Natural Regeneration Options.
• 1 tab for all WIG funding – please note that only the WIG Restructuring Regeneration items represent grants for planting trees. Our systems are unable to produce a report for solely these items.

Please note that we have interpreted “grants for planting trees” as the grant paid for the initial planting or establishment of new trees only. The list includes grants for all tree planting, including new woodland creation, agroforestry, new natural regeneration and the grant provided to diversify restocking proposals following felling. It excludes payments for the ongoing maintenance of newly established woodland.

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 regulation 11(2) (Personal data relating to third party) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested.

This exception applies because grant recipients may be individuals or sole traders in addition to community groups, businesses, etc., and names of individuals and sole traders are considered personal data under regulation 11(2).

Additionally, our computer systems do not currently collate in summary form applicants as individuals/sole traders versus community groups/businesses/etc., so this categorisation is considered as information not held by Scottish Forestry. We have therefore redacted all business names and postcodes from the attached data, as we cannot be certain which records constitute personal data.

Regarding the locations of the land in question, the ‘property name’ field for each record provides a descriptor of each project. Maps of all grant claims are available on our Open Data Portal under FGS Woodland Creation Claims, and can be filtered by year using the “Filter Data” > approval_year option. Individual grant claims can be highlighted by opening the relevant data set and using the “Filter Data” > case_ref option; inputting the Case Reference for a record will highlight that land on the map.

– The number of complaints made against new plantations by local residents (briefly detailing each complaint)

Woodland creation is an iterative and consultative process: our Forestry Engagement and Consultation Processes set out how the principle of local involvement in decisions about land is delivered in the forestry context, providing an overview of the forestry plan and proposal development and approval process for communities.

In brief:
• During the proposal development stage, the applicant is responsible for engaging with stakeholders, including communities and local stakeholders; for recording the issues raised; and for detailing any actions taken to mitigate any concerns raised.
• Once the application has been made, Scottish Forestry undertakes formal consultation via publishing the proposals on the relevant Public Register.
• Consultation responses are considered by Scottish Forestry together with the applicant, and SF provides advice to the applicant on any changes required to address the issues raised.

As noted in the Processes document:

Nearly all conflicts of view are resolved satisfactorily during the plan or proposal preparation and approval process. For those cases where objections are raised, Scottish Forestry will endeavour to resolve disputes through negotiation between parties.

If stakeholders remain unhappy with an approved woodland creation scheme, they are able to complain to Scottish Forestry. Our Model Complaints Handling Procedure details how complaints can be made to Scottish Forestry and how these will be handled.

Between 2018/19 and 2022/23 we received seven complaints regarding woodland creation applications from sources other than the applicant or their agent. As anyone can submit a complaint to Scottish Forestry, we cannot guarantee that all the complaints listed are from local residents.

Brief details are as follows:

Year	Complaint precis
2019	Complaint regarding approved planting design at FLS site (Mainshill open cast restoration site), Douglas, South Lanarkshire
2019	Complaint regarding alleged impact of afforestation at Drumgarland Hill on a private water supply
2020	Complaint regarding alleged lack of consultation on woodland creation at Jubilee Hill, Ardgay
2020	Complaint regarding alleged impact of woodland creation in Glenelg on private water supply and lack of related consultation
2021	Complaint regarding the alleged ineligibility of a croft owner to receive a grant for woodland creation on a croft in Gairloch
2022	Complaint regarding alleged lack of consultation on a woodland creation proposal at Caiplich
2022	Complaint regarding a woodland creation application at Griffin Forest, Aberfeldy not being required to undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment

Please note that years given are calendar years as we record complaints by calendar rather than financial year; however, all the complaints listed above are within the 2018/19 – 2022/23 financial year scope defined.

– The number of appeals from local residents against new plantations (advising how many were successful).

The appeal mechanism for aggrieved parties to appeal against a woodland creation scheme approval is to request a Court of Session Judicial Review. There have been no reviews in the period in question.

– The number of red band needle blight cases identified.

No red needle blight cases have been identified by Scottish Forestry between 2018/19 and 2022/23.

Forestry and Land Scotland may hold data regarding red needle blight cases in Scotland’s national forests. Forest Research may also hold data from their own surveys and research.

– How much land government agencies have bought for the sole purpose of tackling climate change (including the type of activity to occur – e.g. tree planting or peatland restoration).

This information is not held by Scottish Forestry, which does not purchase or own land. However, other public bodies may undertake land purchases, including Forestry and Land Scotland, for multiple objectives and so may be able to provide some of this information.

Further to the above, please can you tell me whether each new plantation was subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment, whether consent was required, and whether any land features (such as an SSSI) were identified.

All woodland creation applications are subject to at least part of the Environmental Impact Assessment process, as detailed in our guidance to applicants available on our website here: Scottish Forestry - Environmental Impact Assessments

Please see attached for a list of the applications that met the thresholds outlined in the guidance, and their outcome as to whether consent was or was not required.

Maps of all approved grant applications are available on our Open Data Portal under FGS Woodland Creation Options, and can be filtered by year using the “Filter Data” > approval_year option. Individual applications can be highlighted by opening the relevant data set and using the “Filter Data” > case_ref option; inputting the Case Reference (“Local Ref” column in the spreadsheet) for a record will highlight that land on the map.

Please also tell me how many hectares of trees were felled.

This information is not held by Scottish Forestry. 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, the area of forest actually felled in a particular year will vary from the area approved. Scottish Forestry does not monitor the area of forest that has been felled each year, but rather monitors the restocking of felled areas.

For the period in question, 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)
2018-19	14,735
2019-20	13,337
2020-21	13,330
2021-22	16,365
2022-23	15,113

Locations of approved felling permissions are available on our Open Data Portal under Plans and Felling > Felling Permissions and Licences, and locations of approved Long Term Forest Plans under Plans and Felling > FGS WIG Forest Plans. The available filters can be used to narrow the data down to the required time period.

It is important to note that:
• 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.
• Local authorities may also approve felling as part of planning permissions; these figures are not held or collated by Scottish Forestry.

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.

EIR 202300381204 - Information released - Annex 1

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EIR 202300381204 - Information released - Annex 2

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