The Woodlands.co.uk Blog - Energy, sustainability & economics
Is land the “new gold” for investors? What might this mean for woodland owners
The ongoing financial crisis was expected by many to push down the price of land but it seems that it has in fact pushed up land values. What appears to have happened is threefold:
- people are getting such a low return on their cash that they feel land is a more attractive option
- investors don’t trust the banks and think of land as a “safe haven”
- whilst many are suffering from the downturn there are many others with cash who are choosing to invest in land.
Land has been described as the “new gold” – a safe haven for wealth even if actual returns are low. This also seems to explain the buoyant residential property market in central London. Read more…
How old are woodland buyers?
Of course woodland buyers can be any age (as long as they are above 18 in order to be able to enter into a contract for a land purchase). However, we decided to do a study of actual woodland buyers to see how old they actually were when they bought the woodland and most people were happy to tell us. The study was of the individuals responding to the telephone questionnaire rather than the average age of the couple, where it was bought jointly – but we assume this will not have distorted out results significantly. Read more…
Financing your wood
In our recent report [pdf file here] into woodland ownership we found that financial gain had a much lower level of importance than factors like conservation, wildlife and wanting to ‘get away from it all’. Less than half (40%) of the owners we surveyed said that the purchase of the wood as an investment was quite or very important and only one in ten said that its purchase for tax purposes was important.
Half (51%) said that having the wood as a retirement project was very or quite important, and we are often approached by individuals in this stage of their lives. They often have access to a lump sum via their pension pay-out and with today’s low interest rates they view a wood as a living investment which they can share with friends, children and grandchildren. Read more…
Woodland burials on a grand scale
In the UK, we tend to think of woodland burials as a very informal and personal thing. On a recent trip to Sweden, I visited a woodland graveyard at the other end of the scale.
Skogskyrkogården on the outskirts of Stockholm is vast; you have to be there to truly appreciate the sheer size of the place. Established in the early 1900s it is completely unlike any other cemetery before it. So much so, that it is considered one of the most important creations of modern architecture – and as such was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 1994. The graves are for the most part low and simple; the natural surroundings – typical Nordic forest of mainly conifers and birch – are the centrepiece, not the monuments.
Biochar at the Centre for Alternative Technology: business opportunity for small woodland owners or climate change solution
Biochar may be used to mitigate climate change brought on by global warming, by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and locking the carbon into the soil, if James Lovelock (originator of the seductive Gaia hypothesis) is to be believed. Others say the numbers just don’t work. Biochar is also put forward as a very effective soil improver, which can reduce fertiliser use, reduce pollution, increase crop yields, and as an approach to agriculture may be traced back to the terras preta (black soils) of the Amazonian rainforest. Read more…
Yew-turn on Forestry Commission sell-off
On 17th February 2011 the Environment Minister, Caroline Spelman (DEFRA’s Cabinet minister), announced that the consultation on the Forestry Commission sell-off was being cut short and that the Government would rethink the whole thing.
However, things are never as simple as they seem. The Government is still committed to reducing DEFRA’s costs and whether the vast woodland and forestry estate in England will remain under the management of the Forestry Commission is debatable. Read more…
Forestry Comission disposals – more surprises!
Public access has dominated the debate on the proposed Forestry Commission (FC) forestry disposals, but behind the official documents there are a few less obvious but perhaps important implications:
The government don’t really trust the Forestry Commission, DEFRA or even politicians any longer as owners of the forests. There have been some kind words said publicly about current management but it is clear from what’s being proposed that the government want to get this land out of FC hands just as soon as possible. Read more…
What does the Forestry Commission consultation really say?
Few people have actually read the 64-page consultation document on the future of the Forestry Commission’s English estate. I am one of those who have, and when I finished reading it my eyes were popping out because it doesn’t say what you’d expect. Here is a short summary of the proposals. You certainly wouldn’t guess them from what most of the press have said.
When you read what DEFRA says it turns out that the sell-off of 100,000 acres has already been decided and the consultation document is not about that at all. It is in fact principally about a lease-off and a give away. Read more…