Identifying and engaging with the emerging biomass industry to secure

benefits for the natural heritage

Sharing Good Practice, Battleby Centre, 3 November 2006

www.ruraldevelopment.org.uk

Neil HarrisonProject Director, Northwoods

RDI - a forestry and rural sector project hosting and management company

Our customers include:

• Forestry Commission Scotland• Forestry Commission England• Natural England• North East Red Meat Task Group• Confederation of Forest Industries• Defra• WWF• Northumberland, Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors National Parks• Scottish Enterprise• UN Global Fire Monitoring Centre• Commission for Rural Communities• Highlands and Island Enterprise• Lantra• One NorthEast• Nidderdale, North Pennines, Northumberland Coast & Forest of Bowland AONB’s• ODPM

Board ofDirectors

Northwoods Yorwoods ForStart HI Ignite HI Ignite HI

Steering GroupSteering Group Steering Group

Commercial Contracts

Project Delivery

www.ruraldevelopment.org.uk

Company Structure

Northwoods – Role and Responsibilities

Supports the tree and timber sector of North East England with information and training on:

Works to a Steering Group of 8 public sector bodies & 1 trade association.

health and safety; business best practice; planning issues; pest management and protection; legislation and regulation; wildfire management and control; emerging & niche markets; technology transfer; environmental best practice; waste disposal; insurance & employment issues; recruitment; technical skills; grant aid and information technology.

Has assisted 500+ businesses & individuals in 4 years with training, business expansion, new machinery, new ways of working, IAG, diversification and grant aid.

ConFor report by CEBR cites 16,723 additional jobs could be created in the woodfuel supply chain - 50% increase on employment levels in 1999 FC survey.SDC report “Woodfuel for Warmth” cites 5 to 10 times more jobs per MW installed than other renewable technology.

Woodfuel - Why Bother?

NE England - close to 100% of FE resource committed to market, only 43% of private sector sustainable annual yield comes to market.

57% of woodland is unmanaged or undermanaged.Woodfuel is 96% “carbon neutral”.

Is Forestry Ready?

Forestry as an industry is failing to attract new entrants – e.g. Advanced Apprenticeship in Trees and Timber abandoned by Lantra Awards a fortnight ago.

Average age of forestry workers is somewhere between 49 and 54.

Applicants for diploma and BSc courses almost halved between 1996 and 2004 when they dipped below 100.

There is a huge raft of legislation & regulation affecting the sector directly.

Sector economics are often marginal at best, with few companies able to invest in training, new equipment or ways of working.

Working with public authoritiesPublic sector has poor record of engaging directly with SME’s in the sector, and in stead relies on initiatives such as Northwoods to do this work for them.

informationtaxation

legislation &

regulation

In relation to biodiversity alone there could be as many as 6 public sector bodies involved with the business:Forestry Commission Natural EnglandEnvironment Agency DefraLocal Authority National Park or AONB

Environmental Awareness within the Sector

Majority of contractor base has little or no formal training in environmental matters.

Most have an affinity with the environment, but will only work with the environment in mind when the client has stipulated this in the contract, and even then there are problems.There are many barriers to engaging with contractors and other businesses in the supply chain when training or information is perceived to be of little or no commercial value.

In Summary

Declining interest in forestry as a career at either technical or professional grades.Ageing workforce, but huge opportunities to create jobs in rural economy.Poor record of engagement with forestry sector – lack of trust & understanding.Hand-to-mouth nature of most forest enterprises.

Major problems for enterprises accessing private finance or public grants.Declining interest in forestry as a career at either technical or professional grades.

Big hits are an easy route to hitting targets, but not necessarily the best for the rural economy.

Low level of environmental awareness in the sector.

Working through Northwoods

Benefits of public sector working through an NGO are:

• able to interact with the sector at arms length;• overcomes many of the trust issues which are a barrier to engagement;• cost effective – no high salaries or “jobs for life” to carry;• NGO’s are able to engage more closely with businesses without conflicts of interest becoming an issue;• NGO staff are more flexible and “generalist”, public bodies have a tendency towards hierarchical bureaucracy & rafts of specialist posts.

How can (and do) we help?Business diagnostic/support and free grant application writing service;Formation of and funding secured for woodfuel producer groups - co-ordinatingaccess for SME’s to emerging markets, facilitating standards, working towards certification (FSC) and exploring regional branding;Action-research, creating business models to encourage diversification into higher value markets;

Lobbying for grant support programmes at national and regional level;Translating government-speak into English & making information relevant and accessible to those working in the sector.

Providing Training

Initial development was funded by Forestry Commission, Learning and Skills Council Northumberland and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.Was written and delivered by Northwoods and industry experts.

Ignite was the first ever vocational qualification in renewable energy & remains the only accredited woodfuel training course in the UK.

Currently running across Scotland until December 2006.

Promoting Co-operative Working

Defra Crops for Energy Branch

NEWFuels Board

Forestry OwnersForestry ContractorsFarmersLocal AuthoritiesNGO’s

Arborists*Consultants*Boiler SuppliersWoodfuel Customers*Other supporting parties*

* Associate Members

Northwoods

NEWFuels – In Operation

Customer Enquiry

Invitation to Tender for Supply

Issued to Membersh

ip

Quotes Returned

Delivery Commenc

es

Contract Awarded

Handholding &

Educating

Assistance in Contract Preparation

Translation &

Reassurance

Handholding &

Educating

Information & Guidance

TrainingQuality ControlTimber SourcingBillingContract Prep.Supply guaranteeEtc, etc, etc…

Troubleshooting

For Customers

For Members

www.ruraldevelopment.org.uk

www.wildfire2007.org.uk

www.northwoods.org.uk

www.yorwoods.org.uk

www.neforestry.info

01669 621 489

neil.harrison@ruraldevelopment.org.uk