Parliament Workbench

Petition · PE01654 · Session 5

Forestry regulation

Closed Submitted 10 Apr 2017 Environment & Energy
Signatures
0
59 online signatures with a country
Comments
16
Considered
2 meetings
in the Official Report

What it asks

Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to develop a statutory code on stakeholder engagement for the forestry industry based on the CONFOR guidance and provide a role for a Scottish Government body to oversee the implementation of and compliance with the code.

What the petitioner did first

I have written complaints to: Dumfries and Galloway Council, Emma Harper MSP and Fergus Ewing MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity.

Where it was considered

Official Report
  1. 22 Jun 2017
    Public Petitions Committee
    New Petitions
    1 mention
  2. 7 Dec 2017
    Public Petitions Committee
    Continued Petitions
    1 mention

Signatures by country

59 online signatures
  1. Scotland40 67.8%
  2. United Kingdom18 30.5%
  3. United States Minor Outlying Islands1 1.7%

Comments

16 comments, oldest first
  1. Willie Scobie 28 Apr 2017
    Consultation is too loose and leaves it to the forst industry to decide whether it carries out any consultation with the communities and those most effected by timber extraction. It needs to be regulated and made mandatory to carry out consultation . One way of doing this to make it compulsory to demonstrate and evidence that consultation has been carried out when applying to the Licencing Authorities for a licence to extract timber.
  2. Willie Scobie 28 Apr 2017
    Community consultation must be made mandatory. It must be regulated but more important, legislation must be introduced to take away the 'voluntary' consultation element.
  3. Grace Fenwick 28 Apr 2017
    Whilst forestry is a commercial enterprise it should not expect cash-strapped councils to pick up the expense of reinstating damaged public roads resulting from forestry extraction. The voluntary code allows forestry companies to flout their responsibilities. Many roads used a small and unsuitable for the heavy traffic and the volume of forestry extraction on-going at present across southern Scotland is phenomenal.
  4. Ian Wallace 28 Apr 2017
    Roads are a disgrace. We pay road tax same as all drivers but do not have good roads as they have in ALL other areas of Scotland AND England. Maybole needs a BYPASS before a disaster happens!!! I hope your conscience's will bother you if it does.
  5. Ben Palmer 29 Apr 2017
    My particular concern is the state of the roads where forest tracks join, as well as these areas of roads needing repair, much of the damage could be avoided if the forest tracks were laid with tar about two truck lengths into the forest, it is the stones from the forest tracks that cause the problem on the roads.
  6. Linda Whittingham 29 Apr 2017
    We have experienced this first hand, noisy machinery working until all hours, single-track roads torn to shreds, historical stone bridge badly damaged, mud and debris left on roads, and wagons which are clearly too big for this type of road. I did report this to the council who made sympathetic noises but then did absolutely nothing. The road is barely passable now with huge potholes
    - who knows when, if at all, it will get fixed. Why should us taxpayers have to foot the bill for repairs when the timber companies are making huge profits at the expense of local residents. Great time of year also to be doing this
    - lambing season when there are ewes and lambs loose on the moors! It is time this was regulated.
  7. Tracy Davidson 30 Apr 2017
    No company or organisation should be "allowed" to run rough shed over any individual or community regardless of what perceived benefit there is to economy, environment etc.

    This practise needs to stop and regulations put in place to ensure this no longer the norm.
  8. Ted Porter 1 May 2017
    I have been noticing no potholes on my recent countryside travels and do not believe the government should waste resources on this minor problem when we have bigger things to think about. Peace out
  9. TeddyP 1 May 2017
    I think you are wrong my friend
  10. James Magee 1 May 2017
    I do not think that any private individual or company should have the right to Destroy large parts of Scotland.
  11. Irene Adamson 1 May 2017
    I totally agree with this petition the damage these holes are doing to our car etc is a disgrace
  12. Irene Adamson 1 May 2017
    The roads in Dumfries and Galloway are disgrace for a euro route
  13. Elizabeth Jones 3 May 2017
    Totally agree
  14. Anna Blyth 4 May 2017
    The roads in Dumfries and Galloway such as the A702, the A712 and the A713 are totally unsuited to the heavy traffic forestry extraction requires. It is now unsafe for ordinary road users to drive, cycle or walk these roads. Forests were planted over 60 years ago with no upgrading of roads in preparation for forest extraction. These roads were built for traffic of 100 years ago
    - horses and carts with occasional motorised vehicles
    - not massive timber trucks!
  15. Mary McCormack 12 May 2017
    Totally agree.
  16. David Billington 3 Jun 2017
    Keep your forests, they can soon go !