Forestry Commission Trade Unions - www.fctu.org.uk
Scottish Climate Change Bill:
Scottish Climate Change Bill - Earlier News
< Back To Latest News
26th February 2009
The FCTU have welcomed today's announcement by the Scottish Conservatives that they will oppose any proposals to lease out parts of the National Forest Estate to private investors. This means that a clear majority of MSPs are against the proposals, and we now call on the Scottish Government to acknowledge the widespread opposition expressed through their own consultation and to withdraw the proposals without delay.
Scottish Conservatives have today called on Scottish Ministers to drop their proposals to lease up to a quarter of Scotland’s national forest estate, claiming that the recently published results of the government’s own consultation on this issue show the plans to be unworkable and potentially damaging to Scotland’s forestry sector. Commenting, John Scott MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, said:
“Our position has been to await the results of the consultation on this matter to allow a thorough assessment of them. From the published responses and the evidence taken at committee it is clear that the government’s proposals command little support from those involved in the forestry sector and that in practical terms they do not stack up.”
“In fact if the proposals were to be pursued they would be potentially damaging to the remaining 75% of the forest estate, to the small rural communities within and bordering Scotland’s national forests and to job prospects in those areas. There is now a clear majority in the Scottish Parliament against the leasing of part of the national forestry estate and no chance of the government being able to get their proposal through."
“Instead, Ministers should now focus on the opportunities that could come from the pursuit of joint ventures between the Forestry Commission and other interested parties in, for example, the renewables industry which could generate the tens of millions of pounds of investment necessary to meet planting targets. Plans to lease Scotland’s forests are now essentially dead and the government should accept that reality.”
22nd February 2009
Michael Russell's replacement with Roseanna Cunningham, coupled with the closure of the initial consultation period has meant that our pace of activity has slowed in the last few weeks. However as recent editorials in the Scotsman and other newspapers demonstrate the proposal to lease out some of Scotland's woodlands to private investors remains one of the most controversial elements of the Climate Change Bill. We are however hopeful that the replacement of the Minister will give the Scottish Government the opportunity it needs to look objectively at the response to the consultation and to respect views expressed by the overwhelming majority of respondents.
In addition to our response to the main consultation on the forestry proposals contained within the bill, in the last couple of weeks we have also given oral evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Environment and Rural Affairs Committee and written evidence to the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee. A copy of our written evidence to the TICC Committee can be downloaded here.
Finally it is worth noting that we have been grateful for the opportunity to meet with a significant proportion of MSPs over the last few weeks and will be continuing to meet with MSPs from all of the the minority parties over the coming few weeks.
3rd February 2009
Robert Beaney has submitted the following report from the meeting held on 30th January at the Lochgilphead Community Centre:
On Friday 30th February an open meeting was held in the Lochgilphead Community Centre, to discuss the proposals in the Scottish Climate Change Bill to lease off 25% of the Forestry Commission Estate in Scotland. Alan Reid, MP for Argyll and Bute, arranged the meeting,ably assisted by FCTU Rep Roy Laird. Due to difficulties organising a venue, the details only appeared in the local press a couple of days before the meeting, however Roy did a great job in getting round and letting people know about it. The result was that at 7.00pm there were 240 people packed into the Lochgilphead Community Centre, all the seats were taken and so was every available bit of standing room, we were also informed later that approximately 40 people turned up that could not get in.
The top table consisted of Alan Reid Lib. Dem. MP for Argyll and Bute, George Lyon ex Lib. Dem. MSP and Minister, Councillor Ellen Morton Lib. Dem leader in Argyll and Bute Council and Jamie McGrigor Scottish Conservative MSP for Highlands and Islands. The meeting started with each of the guests outlining their views and when the debate was opened to the floor, the comments and questions soon started coming in at a rate of knots. The general comments were along the lines of:
- The potential of lease going to a Foreign Investor (if Alex Salmon believes it’s Scotland’s oil why aren’t they Scotland’s trees)
- The FCS are doing a good job now and are in a unique position to deliver on alternative energy and manage increase in new planting
- Lack of faith in ministerial guarantees – damage to local economy, jobs and tourism.
There were also concerns for the loss of local amenities; two speakers illustrated these concerns in particular. The first read out a statement on behalf of The Mental Health Department at Lochgilphead Hospital, which explained how important the local FCS amenities were to them and how they were integrated into the rehabilitation programmes for those recovering from mental illness. The second speaker was the manager of the Kintyre Way, the Kintyre way is 103 miles long, brings in £100k annually to the local economy and just over 1/3 rd goes through FCS land. The only section of the Kintyre way that takes walkers along the public highway is where they were refused permission to take the path through private land, their obvious concern is that any large scale leasing proposal in the area will have a negative effect on the Kintyre Way.
Many speakers voiced frustration that both the Minister and James Mather SNP (msp for Argyll and Bute) were unable to make the meeting, although it was accepted that the meeting was held at fairly short notice and their reasons for not attending were legitimate. Alan Reid agreed to invite them both to a future meeting at a date suitable to them, he also agreed to give as much notice as possible for the next meeting as many of those in attendance had said that many more had wanted to attend but could not due to the short notice.
Councillor Ellen Morton asked all those at the meeting to contact their local councillors and register their opposition to the proposals, as at a recent Council meeting only the Lib Dem councillors spoke against them.
30th January 2009
Following hard on the heals of the SNP's budget defeat, yesterday saw probably the liveliest debate on Forestry that the Scottish Parliament has ever had. Although a little ungracious at times the debate did highlight many of the issues of concern that have been raised and gave a first opportunity to see how the various parties might vote on the issue. Read the transcript here.
Sadly, although the Labour, Lib Dem and Green party MSPs all voted in favour of the motion, a couple of sick absences meant that the SNP and Conservatives (who indicated that they aren't convinced by the proposals, but voted for the motion anyway!) won the day by two votes.
28th January 2009
Further to our earlier post Robert Beaney has submitted the following report from the briefing session for MSPs held at the Parliament last week:
On Thursday January 22nd Sarah Boyack Labour MSP for Edinburgh Central hosted a drop in lobby session at the Scottish Parliament; this was in support of the FCTU and to help us to have contact with as many MSPs as possible and give us the opportunity to raise the issues and concerns that have arisen from the Scottish Climate Change Bill.
Everyone who attended the event thought it was a very worthwhile exercise and from our point of view it was a huge success. We had been told that twenty was an excellent attendance at events like this, so we were justifiably delighted when over thirty turned out to see what we had to say. The fact that there were representatives from all the major parties, was a big bonus, as we weren’t just preaching to the converted. We had the opportunity to put our views to some of the supporters of the Bill (SNP and Tories) as well as giving added information and detail to our supporters.
Sarah Boyack, Elaine Murray and Rhoda Grant from the Labour Party’s Environment team were in attendance for the duration of the event and proved once again to be very helpful and supportive, as you will have seen from the earlier report Sarah Boyack organised the event for us.
Robert Beaney, Allan MacKenzie, Gordon Donaldson and Roy Laird with Glen Brearley who took all the photographs (many thanks Glen) represented the FCTU. We were very well supported by Trade Union Officers Danny Williamson PCS and Richard Leonard GMB along with Lynn Henderson also from PCS and her team who very kindly facilitated the event and worked very closely with Sarah Boyack in the organising. Sarah Boyack and her colleagues were confident that we are making headway and are on the right track, however we must keep up the fight, speak to your MSP and your Councillors and make your views heard loud and clear.
27th JANUARY 2009
With the Scottish Government consultation now formally closed this is a good time to sincerely thank everyone who has supported our concerns over the land-lease proposal. Over the last few weeks our concerns have been shared by individuals, organizations and businesses throughout Scotland (and from many other places around the world) and has led to over a dozen local meetings around scotland, nearly 3500 signatures on our petition (and over 800 on a Scottish Labour Party petition) and a special interest group on Facebook. This level of activity would not have happened without genuine widespread concern.
We shall however probably have to wait several weeks to find out whether or not the Scottish Government wishes to press ahead with its plans, or whether it will put its support behind the many other measures that would help with the fight against climate change. In the interim there is still some ongoing activity. On Thursday the Scottish Parliament will be having a formal debate on the motion:
That the Parliament notes widespread and clearly expressed public concern about the potential effects on biodiversity, access, employment and the ability of Forestry Commission Scotland to continue to carry out its functions effectively as a result of the Scottish Government's proposals to lease large tracts of the forestry estate to the private sector for decades into the future; notes that the Parliament is being asked by the Scottish Government to scrutinise a proposal that it has now said does "not necessarily represent the best or only option" to achieve its objectives; also notes that the Scottish Government has not set out what it believes would be the other or better options; further notes the lack of published detail or business plan and the inability of the Scottish Government to answer a series of questions on the full implications of its proposals at this time, and calls on the Scottish Government to reconsider its plans to proceed with the leasing proposal and end the uncertainty surrounding proposals by dropping the provisions that would permit this from the Climate Change (Scotland) Bill.
In addition Thursday is also the closing date for written submissions to the Parliament's Rural Affairs and Environment Committee which is the first of two committee's to scrutinise the bill. Finally on Friday there is a public meeting at 7:30pm at the Lochgilphead Community Centre - please do come along if you live in the area.
24th JANUARY 2009
As the consultation period draws to a close we have had a busy week seeking support for our concerns over the NFE leasing element of the climate change proposals.
The first important step this week is that we have finalised our submission to the consultation itself, and a copy is available for download here: FCTU Response. If anyone would like to use elements of the paper in their own response then please do.
Our online petition has also received a significant boost this week. Thank you very much to everyone who has taken the trouble to sign and return a printed version of the petition: in addition to the 1480 online signatories we now have around 1200 additional signatures on the paper forms. We therefore now have around 2700 signatories in total which is really excellent. We are just working to capture the names from the paper forms and these will be reflected in the online total early next week. Thank you to everyone who has worked hard circulating and collating these forms.
This week also saw two events at the Parliament. The first of these was an outdoor protest against the leasing plans organised by Jim Hume MSP. We were very pleased to support this event and joined around 100 members of the public and representatives of other organizations to highlight the widespread concern at the NFE leasing proposals. Many thanks to Jim for organising this.
The second event was a drop-in briefing for MSPs held in the Parliament on Thursday lunchtime. This was a very successful event with nearly 40 MSPs from all parties coming along to discuss the proposals. The view and concerns of MSPs varied of course, but we are grateful to everyone who took the time to attend and discuss our concerns on a one to one basis. Particular thanks also go to Sarah Boyack MSP for agreeing to host the event for us and to all our facilitators who made it such a success. We have quite a lot of publicity photos from the event which we'll publish next week, but for now the slideshow above has a quick selection of web-sized images.
Looking forward to this week if you wish to submit a response to the consultation then this needs to be in to the FC by no later than Tuesday 27th. Also please remember that the Parliament's Rural Affairs and Environment Committee has asked for written submissions on the forestry related sections of the Bill, and these must be submitted by no later than Thursday of this week (29th January).
Finally on Thursday of this week there are two interesting events. Firstly the Parliament is holding a debate on Forestry and I think it's fairly certain that the leasing proposals will be one of the topics under discussion; and secondly the BBC Question Time programme is being recorded in Fort William. We are still trying to get details of this event and find out who the panel members are, but we are hopeful that this could be a good opportunity to further broaden awareness of our concerns—more on this later.
13th JANUARY 2009
Firstly can I wish a slightly belated Happy New Year to all of our members and supporters. Despite the extended delay in updating this site over the Christmas and New Year break there has been quite a bit of activity both behind the scenes and across Scotland.
Perhaps the most important piece of news is that late last week Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) managers produced a revised set of maps showing which areas of Scotland may be included in any land-lease option. At the moment the maps are for internal use only and we have been asked not to place them on this site due to their political sensitivity. They do however confirm that it is the South-West and West Coast areas that will be most affected with for example some 40% of the Galloway Forest Park included in the plan. However to balance this up, due to the selection criteria used many of the areas of Aberdeenshire that were identified in the original cut have now been excluded from the latest set of maps.
The publication of the maps—called a 'shock announcement' by the Galloway Gazette—created an understandable stir at an excellent meeting organised in Newton Stewart last week by Russell Brown the MP for Dumfries and Galloway. Robert Beaney represented the FCTU and has circulated the following report about this and a previous meeting for FC staff held in December:
On 12th December 2008 FC staff in Newton Stewart arranged a meeting with Elaine Murray (Labour Environmental spokesperson in the Scottish Parliament) and Russell Brown (Labour MP for Dumfries and Galloway) to give all FC staff an opportunity to voice their concerns regarding the proposals to lease off parts of FC Scotland. Although the meeting had been advertised as a FC staff meeting, several members of the general public attended as well.
There were well over fifty people in attendance, the level of debate and the diversity of concerns expressed made it clear that there was a need for further meeting which would be open to the public. Russell Brown agreed that he would arrange this and would also invite the Minister, Michael Russell, as he felt he should be aware of the level of dissatisfaction felt in the area.
The second meeting was arranged for Thursday January 8th at 18.30pm. Over 100 members of the public turned up, these representing such diverse interests as, Hill Farmers, Fishing Clubs, Rallying, Tourism, local business and Community Councils. Unfortunately the Minister was unable to make the meeting, as he was sick and John Dougan the Conservator for South Scotland was asked to attend in his place to explain the process and answer any questions of a non-political nature.
I was asked to take the Chair and introduced John Dougan and Russell Brown to the audience. In his opening remarks, Russell explained that the Minister was genuinely unable to attend and that nothing more should be read into his absence. Unfortunately a member of the Minister's staff then asked to read a statement from the Minister; this was extremely inflammatory and negative and only resulted in angering all those present, including some who had voted SNP.
Again the meeting was extremely useful with some people asking relevant questions and others voicing their opposition to the proposals and their reasons for this.
Some of the key issues raised were:
- Lack of trust for any of the guarantees given as there is no explanation for how they can work.
- Over 75 years how can they enforce environmental protection?
- 75 year lease is as bad as a sale (nobody present will be here to see the results).
- It is obvious what is being lost, but nobody can see where the benefits are coming from, especially locally.
- TUPE is no guarantee of job security, just the opposite.
- Foreign investors will not care what happens in Galloway.
- Although not perfect the Forestry Commission are by far the best people to manage the estate.
- With so much money being taken out (reduction in timber income) how can the FC continue to manage what is left?
- No guarantee that good work started between FC and local environmental groups would continue.
- General disgust at the Minister's statement.
- Concern that very little if any of the money raised would be spent on Forestry (especially in Galloway).
- The money anticipated is a very poor return for a 75-year lease of approximately 1000 hectares of good Forest land.
- Who will make sure any conditions in the lease are adhered to?
During the meeting a request was made for a show of hands to indicate how many present were in favour of the proposals and how many against. Although some people had left by the time the vote was taken there were 104 against and none in favour.
Looking forward to this week Jim Hume MSP has organised a 'Forestry Summit' which will be held at 1pm tomorrow in the Scottish Parliament. Jim has been an excellent and vocal supporter of our campaign and we shall be supporting tomorrow's meeting and will provide a report from it as soon as possible. If you would like any further information regarding this then please contact Jim Hume's office directly. We are also pleased to confirm that Sarah Boyack MSP has very kindly agreed to host a drop in session for MSPs at the Parliament on 22nd January. Allan Mackenzie will be coordinating our contribution to this, and if any members would like further information then please contact Allan directly.
Malcolm Crosby has continued to work hard over the break to finalise our submission to the consultation itself. This has been a major undertaking given the tight timescale, and is now in its final draft stage and will be posted online in the next few days.
Finally, the two Scottish Parliament Committees that will consider the bill have both now issued formal requests for written submissions. The Rural Affairs and Environment Committee has asked for written submissions on the forestry related sections of the Bill by no later than 29th January; and the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee is seeking views on the Bill as a whole by no later than 27th February. It is our intention to offer written submissions to both of the committee's and additional oral evidence if requested.
20th DECEMBER 2008
In addition to the ongoing consultation regarding the forestry related provisions that are in the bill, the Parliament's Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee has now called for submissions on the draft bill itself (which includes the enabling clauses relating to forestry). Further details are available at the Committee's webpage (click here) and we shall be updating our advice to members regarding this in the coming days.
Also, over the last few weeks press releases issued by the Scottish Government have accused us of 'scare-mongering' and of not understanding the TUPE regulations, for failing to accept the Minister's guarantee of no compulsory redundancies. We have therefore sought written clarification from the Forestry Commission, which has confirmed that: the guarantee does not form part of the terms and conditions of service for any FC staff. The commitment to no compulsory redundancies is a position approach across all public sector areas in Scotland. As such it is not a contractual requirement, and therefore does not automatically transfer under TUPE. The guarantee applies for the life of the Strategic Spending Review settlement to all civil servants within the responsibility of the Scottish Government, including staff of associated Executive Agencies and non-departmental public bodies.
Consequently whilst we respect the its intent, we stand by our position that the guarantee of itself does nothing to protect the jobs of staff who may be transferred to a private leasing company.
16th DECEMBER 2008
Three quick updates:
- The Labour MSP Group have now launched their own website and petition at www.saveourforests.org.uk. Please show your support by visiting the site and signing their petition as well!
- Lauren Rogers has kindly started a Facebook Group called 'Don't Sell Scotland's Forests'; so if you're on Facebook please pay it a visit, join up and spread the word - thanks Lauren.
- Finally we have now produced a downloadable version of our petition that you can you can print, complete and return.
14th DECEMBER 2008
Support for our campaign has continued to grow this week and we have continued to try and raise awareness of the potential impact of the proposals on a number of fronts:
- Our team led by Malcolm Crosby have now produced a first draft of our proposed response to the consultation. We shall continue to work on the draft this week and hope to issue it in time for members to consider over the Christmas break; with a view to preparing a final draft by mid-January.
- We have now launched our petition to enable everyone who shares our concerns to register their support. Please forward the link to anyone who you think may be interested: www.fctu.org.uk/petitions. A big thank you to the 500 people who have signed it since Thursday.
- Support amongst MSPs has also continued to build and the Labour MSP Group have kindly written a formal letter of support for our campaign: Labour's Letter of Support - thank you. We are working with supporters to plan a number of events between now and the close of the consultation at the end of January; further details of these will be posted in due course.
- The Minister has highlighted in a press release this week that his 'triple guarantee' regarding jobs means that our continued concerns constitute 'inaccurate claims [and] scare-mongering'. We have therefore written to the FC seeking written clarification on whether or not the Minister's guarantee constitutes a 'term and condition of service' that is transferable under the TUPE regulations. (We shall be taking up the Minister's kind offer to meet with us again early in the New Year.)
- Finally another big thank you to all of our members who have been working hard to support the campaign. There have been a number of excellent public meetings around Scotland; and we hope to post some feedback on these in the coming days. If you are organising an event in your area then please do let us know: unions@forestry.gov.uk.
7th December 2008
The level of support for our concerns has increased significantly in the last couple of weeks, with a growing number of MSPs from the Labour, Lib Dem and Green parties all taking an active role. Sarah Boyack, Jim Hume and Robin Harper have all been particularly active organising and attending events surrounding the proposals and laying down motions and questions in the Parliament. Please can we continue to encourage all members to make contact with your local MSP and newspaper - voicing your concerns as constituents and members of your local community is an excellent and effective way to support the campaign.
As well as working to prevent the privatisation of the management of part of the estate, we will also be responding to the consultation with positive suggestions of how the estate can be used to assist with tackling climate change. On wednesday the small team that has kindly agreed to help draft our response had its first meeting. Malcolm Crosby has kindly agreed to lead on this for us, and once the team have a working draft we shall be circulating this to union members for comments along with a more formal survey to gather your thoughts and suggestions.
Also on Wednesday our political campaign team had its second meeting and developed a list of ten further actions that we shall be taking forward over the coming weeks. We intend to keep a few of these under our hats for now, but we are hoping to launch a public petition in the next few days and to host a drop-in information session for MSPs at the Parliament early in the New Year.
On Thursday we had an excellent meeting at the Parliament which was followed by a number of media events which included the national press, national radio as well as local television in the Borders.
30th November 2008
At the time of the launch of the consultation most of the reports in the press followed the key points issued in the government's press release. However it has been excellent to see that subsequent reports this week have begun to highlight our concerns and the ramifications of the proposals. First amongst these was an article by Rob Edwards in last week's Sunday Herald, which highlighted our concern at the lack of any viable business model. The paper also quoted Sarah Boyack, Labour's Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment as saying: "This is not a minor change, it's a fundamental shift which would see over a quarter of our public forests being managed by big forestry companies. Effectively the SNP would be selling off our family silver and handing it over to big overseas firms. There are tough questions that need to be asked about the financial implications of the leasing arrangements. The Forestry Commission has also been successful in developing access and biodiversity work. These proposals would severely undermine that progress and rule out new opportunities.” These comments were subsequently picked up in reports and letters in several other papers.
We have also received excellent support from many other MSPs this week. Members in Ae and Dornoch have arranged meetings with local their local MSPs, and at least one MSP has arranged a meeting with the Minister for this coming week to discuss our concerns. The issue was also raised by Jamie McGrigor during First Minister's Questions this week. Mr Salmond responded; "if it is possible to protect rights of access, protect employment, protect trade and also generate significant investment in the forestry sector, which is badly needed, then surely that would be a good thing to do". Sadly the key point of course is that the current plan does none of these things: under the current proposals there is no guarantee that the money raised will be used for investment in forestry, and without a viable business model that explains how the FC's work will be funded in the future there is also no guarantee how much of the current environmental, education, conservation and public access work will be continued in the medium to long term.
Finally this week we have also written to over 50 environmental, community and NGO groups based in Scotland asking that they support our concerns. Some have already positively and we hope to hear from others this week.
In the coming week we shall be holding a meeting of our political campaigning team to develop the next stage of our ongoing work, and we shall be meeting on wednesday to rough out a first draft of our formal response to the consultation - which will be circulated to members for comment in the coming weeks. We also have several meetings scheduled with MSPs and have been invited to the Parliament on Thursday directly highlight our concerns.
Finally as a post-script to our work this week we have been following up on the Minister's reference to the changes which were made to New Zealand's Forest Service on the late 1980's. Leaving aside that the New Zealand Forest Service was first converted to a limited company and then completely sold off to the highest bidders in 90 lots - which makes it a rather odd and worrying comparator for the Minister to use - we found the following quote: “We were told it was to pay off debt. Of course it turns out to have been an ideological ambush to get the state out of business and the big corporations in. …We were told we had to sell them [the assets] for the highest price because that justified, you see, the fact that we were using it to pay off debt. And so the highest price always came from overseas. That always conflicted with the nationalism inherent in the New Zealand psyche and in every sale we got marked down in the polls. It became a suicidal, lemming-like surge towards oblivion. And what for? Did we repay the debt? Rubbish! The debt was there. And so we were in the end hapless adventurers along some sort of ideological crusade which the public of New Zealand, despite our contempt for them, picked up faster than we did.” - David Lange, New Zealand Prime Minister, 1984-1989. Food for thought!