Funding for new projects designed to reduce the impact of timber transport on communities has been announced by Scottish Forestry.
£900,000 is being allocated to upgrading existing fragile rural roads, creating passing places and building new in-forest routes to take timber away from people’s homes.
The projects include improvements to the A819 at Electric Cottage; upgrades to the C33 at Balquhidder – a narrow, mostly single-track road that will support around a quarter of a million tonnes of timber being transported over the next 10 years; and the diversion of 100,000 tonnes of timber transport from Lagalochan and Loch Avich timber along the C29, C30 and B845 through Dalavich and Kilchrenan.
A further £1.1 million has already been committed to funding on-going initiatives including the TimberLINK coastal shipping project, a three-year electric timber lorry trial and a network of regional timber transport officers across Scotland.
Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said: “Our forests produce around six million tonnes of timber each year.
“This is a vital part of our green economy which generates over £1.1 billion to Scotland each year and supports around 34,000 jobs.
“It is important that this timber gets to market safely and very importantly, in a way which minimises any impacts on rural communities.
“This funding aims to achieve this and more.”
Gougeon added: “In our drive towards net zero, I’m looking to promote innovative ways to decarbonise how our timber gets to market in a way that is more environmentally friendly.
“Using sea routes and exploring the use of electric timber lorries are good examples of this.”
The TimberLINK project operates from Argyll using ships instead of timber lorries to move 75,000 tonnes of timber each year to wood processors in Ayrshire.
Scottish Forestry said this service avoids around 4,000 lorry journeys and reduces emissions by 1,700 tonnes each year.
The three-year electric timber lorry trial is nearing its second year in operation with James Jones and Sons (Lockerbie) and Scotlog Shipping (Inverness) advocates for fleet electrification.
