Skip to main content

Forests

Volume 497: debated on Wednesday 14 October 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the area of commercial woodland and forestry in England that is owned by (a) Forest Enterprise and (b) private landowners and public limited companies. (291914)

The information is not held in that format by the Forestry Commission. The “National Inventory of Woodland and Trees” published in 2001 included information on ownership type for woodland areas of 2.0 hectares or more. This is given in the following table.

Ownership type

Area (hectares)

Personal

480,794

Business

146,601

Forestry or timber business

7,200

Charity

68,484

Local authority

61,098

Other public (not Forestry Commission)

27,302

Forestry Commission

222,694

Community ownership or common land

3,732

Unidentified

3,917

Total

1,021,822