The Confederation of Forest Industries (ConFor) and Scottish environment minister Michael Russell have met to discuss issues surrounding the implementation of the forestry elements of the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP).
ConFor chief executive Stuart Goodall and national manager for Scotland Jamie Farquhar outlined a number of problems that the forest sector has encountered with the SRDP, including a funding gap since the Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme was closed, problems with a new web-based system and the belief that forestry’s viewpoint has not been correctly integrated into the SRDP.
“As a result of the meeting, Mr Russell said he will demand prompt action to address these issues.
“We were very impressed by the minister’s understanding of the sector’s situation and his determination to tackle the unacceptable delays that we have experienced,” said Mr Goodall.
“The minister made clear that he was determined to simplify processes where possible to ensure economic activity in forestry was not hampered at this time of economic squeeze,” added Mr Farquhar.
