The legal requirements relating to a Planning Authority’s policies and proposals for forestry are broad in scope and include their development, protection and enhancement, their resilience to climate change, and the expansion of a range of woodland types to provide multiple benefits.
Achieving these outcomes will require both woodland creation and the management of existing woods and forests, and these activities will need to be carried out in line with the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) and its associated guidelines.
Guidelines for UK Forestry Standard (Forest Research website)
Local Development Plans (LDP) should be supported and informed by an up-to-date FWS. Further advice on how a FWS should contribute to the LDP process can be found in the Scottish Government’s Local Development Planning guidance.
Local Development Planning advice (Scottish Government website)
National Planning Framework
Reflecting National Planning Framework in a Forestry and Woodland Strategy National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) places the global climate emergency and nature crisis at the heart of decision-making in Scotland’s planning system, and forests and woodlands have a crucial role to play in helping to address both and to support a growing economy.
National Planning Framework 4 / NPF4 (Scottish Government website)
By setting out the Planning Authority’s objectives and policies for future woodland creation and the management of existing forests and woodland in the area, some of the ways in which a FWS can support the implementation of NPF4 policies are illustrated in Table 1.
Note, though, that this technical note is intended as guidance for meeting the FWS requirements of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 rather than the detail of NPF4.
Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 (legislation.gov.uk)
