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EU chipping in for wood fires
WOODLAND owners in South Yorkshire are being encouraged to tap into the growing market for wood fuel after the region was granted £100,000 in EU funding.
The Forestry Commission and the South Yorkshire Forest Partnership lobbied for the European Union cash because of the region's tradition of using solid fuels such as coal.
Private woodland owners will now be urged to use more of their land to produce timber, and co-operate with other owners to create clusters of suppliers.
Forestry Commission figures put South Yorkshire's area of forestation at 28,662 acres, with trees covering over 10 per cent of Sheffield, higher than the national average of seven per cent.
Rudie Humphrey, the commission's woodfuel co-ordinator for Yorkshire and the Humber, said demand for woodfuel was expected to increase.
"We believe demand for woodfuel will surge 25 per cent over the next few years, yet well over half of South Yorkshire's woods are under- managed.
"There's a major opportunity staring us in the face.
"The public sector can do only so much in meeting future woodfuel demands and we need private woodland owners to make their mark."
The UK is one of four countries to have been awarded cash to develop woodfuel.
The others are France, Slovenia and Latvia.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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