The National Forest

• Company Information

• The Strategy
• Background
• Foreword by Ben Bradshaw

Background

The creation so far of The National Forest followed the proposals set out in the original National Forest Strategy which was published in 1994.

This section sets out the process for updating the strategy undertaken during 2002/03.

Stage 1 - Audit

The first stage of this work was to carry out an audit of the progress of the original Forest Strategy. The audit, carried out in late 2002, involved two main aspects of work:

• An assessment of progress by the National Forest Company;
• An independent, strategic assessment of progress by ENTEC consultants.

The audit demonstrated that substantial progress has been made towards the overall Forest vision although much remained to be done. The next phase of the process was to prepare the new Forest Strategy itself.

Stage 2 - The New Strategy

The new Forest Strategy covering the next ten years (2004 - 2014) went out to public consultation for three months from 1 September to 30 November 2003. The consultation was hugely successful and the NFC received almost 1000 responses from members of the public and organisations.

Government approval was received in January 2004 and the Strategy, together with a Delivery Plan, was formally launched on 29 March 2004 by Ben Bradshaw MP, Minister for Nature Conservation and Fisheries.