The Forestry Commission (FC) says it has no choice but to increase the fee it charges for plant health inspections on imported timber. However, it says the charges may be reduced again, depending on the UK’s import levels and the number of inspections it undertakes.
The proposal is to increase the inspection fee per container of timber from £22.83, to £38.
The Timber Trade Federation opposes the move and urged members to air their views on the issue within the fee increase consultation period, which ended on April 9.
“To increase the price for inspections is unacceptable [given] the current economic situation, coupled with fee rises for CITES import permits, and the increase in the number of inspections on ash [due to the North American emerald ash borer infestation],” said a TTF communiqué.
Roddie Burgess, head of FC plant health services, said it had to raise the fee to comply with Treasury and EU rules.
“We’re obliged to recover our costs on inspections, no more, no less,” he said.
“We’ve managed to keep them at the same level for a while through increased efficiency and other cost savings, but the downturn in inspectable timber imports from 1 million m³ to500,000m³ last year significantly reduced our fee income and we now have no choice but to raise the charge.”
Opponents of the rise have urged the FC to make further cost savings, but Mr Burgess said it has cut as far as possible.
“We’ve already gone from four regional managers to two and everyone agrees to go lower than that would undermine our ability to provide the necessary service.”
He said that the charge increase would not come in until after the election, and also that it could be reversed if levels of inspectable imports rise above a certain point as the FC “is not allowed to make a profit on inspections any more than it can make a loss”.
