A recent timber procurement meeting for London local authorities organised by Defra, The Timber Trade Federation and WWF has showed an “appetite for working together to promote policies on responsible sourcing of timber”, according to Defra officials.
The meeting was part of joint TTF, WWF and Defra work to try to improve levels of timber procurement policy implementation among local authorities. The UK timber industry has frequently expressed concern that councils either do not have proper timber procurement policies or do not seem to understand that there are certification schemes other than the Forest Stewardship Council.
“The meeting discussed working with the Greater London Authority and London local authorities to focus on the construction sector as well as considering targeting large contractors often used by local authorities,” said Defra.
“The Central Point of Expertise on Timber is setting up workshops in London from the autumn highlighting criteria, assessing evidence of compliance and model contract clauses, to help public sector procurement officials meet the policy requirements.”
