Housing: Construction
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an estimate of the quantity of (a) commercial forest timber and (b) waste wood products that will be needed to achieve the government’s target of 1.5million homes in this parliament; and what proportion of these products can be sourced domestically.
Answered by Mary Creagh
We do not yet have an estimate of the required timber and waste wood required to meet the Government's housing targets. The current forecast of softwood availability for Great Britain is a total average of 25.2 million cubic metres of softwood timber per annum over 50 years (2013-16 to 2057-61) from public and private estates.
We are aiming to increase softwoods to at least 30% of total planting and bring more hardwoods to market through increased woodland management. To support this goal, the Government launched the Timber in Construction Roadmap on 27 February 2025 which sets out our vision for a sustainable, integrated industry that meets the needs of the future.
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