Welsh Government heading off ‘legitimate concerns’ over companies buying Welsh farms for …

“Because you may well try and sell this land to a speculative investor but in order to plant trees on it you, first of all, need an environmental impact assessment.

“You need to properly consult, you need to change your plans based on what the community want, you need to ensure the mix of trees is right for that location.

And only 4% of the trees we grow here in Wales we use to build Welsh homes.

“Now there’s a real missed economic opportunity here given the demand for timber is going to increase by something like 120% in the next few years.

We want every farmer to plant around five hectares of woodland.

They told Nation.Cymru: “A fundamental part of Foresight’s approach to forestry is to listen to and work closely with the local community.

“Foresight held a local community engagement meeting last night, where we listened to the locals and took their views on board.

“We need to plant 86 million trees by the end of this decade if we are to meet ‘net zero’ carbon emissions by 2050.” — Lee Waters quoted in N.C’s 2nd January article, ‘Large scale afforestation will decimate rural communities’.

“And it seems to me that there’s a feeling in Wales that Wales is being bought out from under us.”…..Vaughan Roderick nails it there…..that’s exactly what’s been happening ☹️.

There is some good in what he says but it appears to me that he has not listened to the serious concerns raised.

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