A key part of developing a woodland creation proposal is the engagement with all relevant stakeholders.

Have your say on forestry plans and proposals

The feedback and information gathered should inform the development of the proposal and applicants should explain how they have considered issues raised by stakeholders or identified through surveys. 

When all the issues identified have been considered and addressed where appropriate, a summary of the stakeholder engagement exercise should be included as part of the package of information submitted with the proposal for Scottish Forestry for review. 

The accompanying 'Stakeholder and Community Engagement and Feedback Guidance' should be read alongside this guidance to support your application. Scottish Forestry will review the summary of the engagement exercises to ensure that relevant issues have been recorded and that the proposed responses are reasonable.

Scottish Forestry Consultation Process

We will normally only consult once on any application.

Where EIA consent is required, the consultation will be undertaken once the EIA report has been prepared.

Otherwise the consultation for proposals intending to apply for grant will normally take place before the formal UKFS assessment and EIA screening opinion have been carried out. 

After an initial assessment of the woodland creation application, to ensure compliance with the UK Forestry Standard, Scottish Forestry will then publicly consult on these proposals using an online Public Register. 

Following consideration of consultation responses, we will formally assess the proposal. 

This formal consultation process enables any interested party, including public bodies (such as local planning authorities, NatureScot, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, or Historic Environment Scotland, ) to provide comment on proposals directly to Scottish Forestry. 

Interested stakeholders should:

• have been engaged during the early stages of developing the proposal
• also be provided with feedback on how their comments have been considered and, where appropriate, how any issues have been considered or addressed, as detailed in the “Stakeholder and Community Engagement and Feedback Guidance”. 

The Public Register consultation allows us to review any issues raised by consultees and check they have been considered and appropriately considered or resolved the woodland creation proposal.

Forestry Engagement and Consultation Processes

Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations and Forestry

We have specific responsibilities under the Forestry (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 for:

• afforestation (woodland creation)
• deforestation
• forest road works
• forestry quarry works

Where such projects could result in a significant impact on the environment then EIA consent and an EIA report will be required. 

We will undertake an EIA screening opinion prior to a grant application. To enable us to do so, woodland creation proposals should include full details of afforestation, deforestation, forest roads and forestry quarries.

If in any doubt, it is advised that anyone considering a woodland creation proposal should seek guidance from Scottish Forestry to determine if their proposal will require a screening opinion and if so when to apply.

Apply for an EIA screening opinion

Prior Notification of forestry roads

Under planning legislation forestry roads are called “forestry private ways”. 

The formation of forest roads within a woodland creation proposal, is likely to be subject to local Planning Authority control through the ‘Prior Notification of forestry private ways’ process.

This is administered by local Planning Authorities under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Order 2014 (SSI 2014 No. 300).

The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Order 2014 (legislation.gov.uk)

This Order requires that prior to the formation or alteration of agricultural or forestry private ways, the developer or landowner must notify the relevant planning authority to ascertain if the proposal can be considered as permitted development or if prior approval is required.

This process is known as ‘prior notification’. You can read our Briefing Note 3 for specific guidance on this process.

Briefing note 3 - prior notification of forestry tracks/private ways

Woodland creation proposals must meet the requirements and follow the guidelines set out in the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS).

The UK Forestry Standard (5th edition)

The UKFS sets out the criteria and standards for the sustainable management of forests and woodlands in the UK and aims to promote good forestry practice. 

The UKFS describes the legal and good forestry practice requirements.

The requirements are categorised into different elements of sustainable forest management, each supported by guidelines for managers. 

They form the basis for assessing proposals. 

Some climate change and corporate sustainability risks are listed on our Corporate Risk Register (CRR).

A more detailed risk and adaptation overview can be found in our Business Continuity Plan (BCP).

The overall BCP is supported by local plans, which are currently under review, managed by our Conservancy Teams.

Instead of duplicating information or work, the NZAG have decided to collaborate with our Information Governance Manager, and Corporate Planning and Governance Manager, to incorporate climate change-related risks and adaptation measures into the CRR and BCP.

To reach our ultimate goal of being ‘net zero’ as an organisation across all 3 Scopes, we ultimately need to do two things:

1. reduce operational emissions to the lowest practical point, whilst maintaining operational effectiveness
2. offset emissions that we cannot reduce

8.1 Key milestones and projects

Our key milestones and projects include:

• completion of the Canopy Project for reduced reliance on helicopter flights
• publication of the travel review document and initiation of its recommendations (e.g. starting an electric vehicle trial to initiate the strategic electrification of our fleet, introducing a salary sacrifice scheme for electric vehicles, analysis of high mileage drivers’ data, etc.)
• developing a sustainable procurement policy
• introducing a travel hierarchy to tackle non-essential travel
• continued pursuit of co-location opportunities to reduce estate related emissions
• continue to increase the quality and accuracy of our data by utilising our carbon accounting platform
• continued collaboration across the public sector to share best practices
• exploring digitisation options for our physical documents to reduce the need for physical storage

The legal framework underlying this Route Map is outlined in Appendix D. This document aims to address all outlined obligations.

For the purpose of this publication, general knowledge of Greenhouse Gas Reporting by the reader will be assumed.

However for completeness, the Scottish Government provides guidance and a topical overview here.

7.1 National policy targets

Our 'stated simply' Net Zero goal is in support of and aligned with Scottish Government's national policy targets, specifically:

• Net Zero Scope 1 emissions by 2045
• zero tailpipe emissions from fleet by 2030
• zero emissions from heating in buildings no later than 2038
• 20% reduction in car mileage by 2030

7.2 Our Net Zero principles

While upholding our obligations to Scottish ministers and the Scottish public, our business activities aim to:

1. comply with relevant environmental legislation
2. reduce our consumption of water and energy and increase the proportion of our energy derived from renewable sources via electrification
3. reduce the amount of waste we produce, increase the proportion of waste which is reused or recycled, and prevent pollution
4. minimise unnecessary business travel through the use of technology and flexible working, and promote the use of sustainable methods of transport
5. where practical, buy services from sustainable sources and encourage our suppliers and contractors to improve environmental performance
6. continually improve our performance through monitoring of progress and setting challenging targets
7. reduce behavioural emissions through education and engagement of staff and stakeholders

This Route Map replaces our earlier (2019) Environmental Statement in full.

Since 2022, we have submitted and published an annual Public Bodies Climate Change Duties Report (PBCCD Report).

This report, together with all past reports, can be found via the link below for an up-to-date picture of our carbon emissions, internal climate change governance, wider sustainability influence and upcoming carbon reduction projects:

Sustainable Scotland network

A summary of the 2023/24 report, highlighting our emissions by scope, largest carbon contributors and any relevant trends or projects, can be found in Appendix A - Data.

Appendix A - Data

The graphic highlights our Executive Board’s recognition of the need to prioritise and direct resources towards climate change mitigation and adaptation activities, supporting progress towards Net Zero.

The Strategic Lead for Sustainability and Workplace, together with the Net Zero Action Group (NZAG) – a working group made up of people across the organisation with a vested interest in corporate sustainability action – developed this strategy and oversee projects and day-to-day work in this space. 

Members of this group are directly involved in other strategic development work across the organisation (e.g. estate strategy, digital and data strategy, communications or corporate plan development) and beyond (e.g. Woodland Carbon Code, UK Forestry Standard).

All aim to align these strategies to aid the effectiveness of our journey to Net Zero, while telling one comprehensive story.

The Head of Corporate Affairs and Communication will fulfil the role of SRO for our Net Zero Route Map and Action Plan.

The role is defined as: ensuring the successful delivery of a programme or project (with ultimate accountability for meeting objectives), achieving projected outcomes, and realising the intended benefits.

The NZAG escalate any decisions beyond their Terms of Reference to either the Senior Operations Group, or directly to the Executive Board to ensure corporate sustainability is dealt with as a priority at the highest level of the organisation.

Furthermore, the governance of climate change actions is supported by the Corporate Affairs team, who assist the Strategic Lead for Sustainability and Workplace in taking forward the Net Zero Action Plan. This ensures that climate change is part of our Strategic Risk Register, and that sustainability forms a core part of our corporate planning documents.

The Net Zero Action Group will develop projects, guidelines and other pieces of work to weave sustainability into all of our activities.

They will make decisions related to project development and activity (e.g. reporting boundaries for Scope 3, communication channels, external carbon accounting activities and benchmarking).