National Forestry Conference 2024: A review

The government will create three new ‘national forests’ to bring woodlands closer to people, the Minister for Nature said at a major forestry conference.

Mary Creagh MP said Labour was committed to planting millions of trees across the UK, during her keynote speech at the CLA, Forestry Commission and Grown in Britain’s conference at Newbury Racecourse.

She was among a varied line-up of speakers exploring the theme of ‘Products, People and Possibilities', attended by 200 foresters, land managers, farmers and other key stakeholders.

The Minister told delegates that a productive forestry sector is ‘the backbone of many industries’ bringing economic, flood defence and carbon sequestration benefits. She said she was leading work around achieving a ‘circular economy’, and wanted to see an increase in the use of timber in construction.

CLA President Victoria Vyvyan opened the conference, which was supported by Pryor & Rickett Silviculture, Nicholsons and Michelmores. She said we import too much, don’t plant enough, 40% of our forestry is not properly managed and we are insufficiently resilient to biosecurity hazards. But Victoria was also optimistic, arguing the sector has a huge capacity for delivering growth in the rural economy. Well-managed woods and forests lock-up carbon and deliver increased biodiversity, she added.

Other speakers included John Deakin, head of trees and woodlands at the National Trust; Rob Penn, journalist, broadcaster and trustee of Woodland Heritage; Neil Macdonald, woodland ambassador, apple farmer and woodland owner; and Richard Stanford, Forestry Commission CEO.

Guy Nevill, of the Birling Estate in Kent, spoke of how they had started opening up their woodland to the public via a campsite more than a decade ago and had increased access and engagement since then, and moved into yoga and mindfulness.

Dan Geerah, director of growth at Land App, explored how digital tools can help planning for woodland creation in-line with the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) and agroforestry. Polly Bedford, director at UK Hardwoods, discussed the current market and future trends, exploring the decarbonisation of big projects, and how architects and interior designers are becoming more aware of product ‘story’ and carbon impact.

The conference will return in October 2025.