One of the reasons LlyG formed was to represent the views of community woodland groups to policy makers.. why? Because, government policy establishes the purpose of forests and a vision of how they can serve the nation. From this flows the nature and purpose of forestry grants, which species are preferred for new plantings, the amount of local involvement in management of the Welsh Government forests, whether FC forests can be sold off etc..
From its inception Llais y Goedwig has responded to open Welsh Assembly Government consultations and been invited to comment on strategic position papers by the Forestry Commission. Depending on the nature and timing (which is often limited) the Board will either:
- post up a notice of a consultation, invite members to send in their comments and from these formulate a response to represent the collective view of members
- respond as the Board to make representation on behalf of community interests on an issue where there isn’t time to do a poll of members views
Draft Rural Development Regulation (RDR) post 2014
For those of you who are not EU funding experts – the RDR is the EU Regulation which sets the overall objectives and shape of the Rural Development Programme (RDP). The RDP is the country (i.e. Wales) interpretation of the RDR and this provides the basis for agri-environment payments and much of the funding available for rural environment and natural resource based business development. Jenny attended a stakeholder meeting of UK forestry interests in the Draft RDR which will come into effect in 2014 in Birmingham on the 13th December. The purpose of the meeting was to prepare a representation to DEFRA for them to take to the next round of negotiations on the RDR. It was also a good opportunity to learn more about the new RDR.
The Draft RDR is basically good news (yes really!) for community woodlands. The most exciting opportunity is Article 36 Co-operation which provides support to promote co-operation between two or more entities and is intended to fund: pilot projects; product R&D; establishment of short supply chains and local markets; joint action on climate change; collective environmental projects; horizontal and vertical cooperation in supply chains and drawing up of forest management plans. All this over projects that can last up to 7 years. In the past payments couldn’t be made for any work on state forest (ie FCW land) but Article 26 changes this and allows support to be extended to bodies managing state forest independent of the state budget. Article 18 also allows funding for access to forest land by farmers (which could enable management by a community group). Ecosystem services are mentioned in articles related to environment which if used creatively could open the way to full environmental and social accounting.
Of course there is also a downside: farmers may lose ‘income foregone’ (ie annual) payments but the UK along with others are going to challenge this. For us there is a potential snag in Article 15 and 17 which talks about training and advisory services respectively. These both require that payments for training or advice should go to the providers not the purchasers (ie so you will get free advice rather than the cash to buy advice as was the case with BWW) There is also a requirement that trainers be ‘appropriately qualified’ and ‘regularly trained’ with the standards for both to be decided by Wales. The more explicit mention of vocational training may also make it easier to include volunteers and hobbists in training.
The RDR only sets the scene the detail of what we will actually get is in the detail of the Wales RDP. Discussion on this are due to commence early 2012 and Llais y Goedwig will be there to put forward ideas on how we can use the new RDR to further develop community woodland activities. Watch this space for developments and if you want to use these opportunities at local level start thinking about getting involved with your County RDP.
A summary of key forestry aspects of the draft regulation prepared by FCE: 111021 Summary of Draft RDR 2014-20.
Revelant Welsh Government policies
Welsh Government woodland strategy
