Great meeting today celebrating our forests, woodland and trees and the products we can make from the wood they produce. Owen Patterson came along and was presented with the Grown in Britain report. Check out the outstanding website:
http://www.growninbritain.org/
Grown in Britain celebrates the products we can make from the wood they produce. It is an incredibly positive movement that is bringing together:
•The environmentalists and woodland owners who contributed to the policy shaping work of the Independent Forestry Panel
•The contractors, builders and retailers who want to buy, use and sell more British timber and wood based products.
•Woodland managers, public and private agencies who want to see many more of our woods managed to produce sustainable and legal sources of wood.
Their aims are:
To create a new and stronger market pull for the array of products derived from our woodlands and forests.
To develop private sector funding that supports the planting and management of woodland and forests through funding from corporates as part of their corporate social responsibility
To connect together and harness the positive energy and feelings towards our woodlands and forests that many in our society share to create a strong wood culture. A wood culture that captures personal health and fitness, well-being, community and encourages the use of more wood and forest product.
Grown in Britain is tackling every barrier that gets in the way of these aims. It is building on and bringing together the great work that is already being done by so many individuals, businesses and groups and it is relentlessly seeking solutions that will make a real and sustained change to the whole sector.
I had the chance to talk to representatives of the timber businesses that affect us in Northumberland and to talk to Alastair Kerr, who does an outstanding job as the Director General of the Wood Panel Industries Federation. I am utterly committed to supporting our forestry, timber and chipboard businesses that make a massive difference to the British economy and Northumberland in particular.
