Day 058 - 30 Nov 94 - Page 50
1 pulp and paper mills until we get to Irvin which on page
2 740 we can see with clarity?
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What do you mean "there are not any until you
5 get to..."
6
7 MR. MORRIS: Sorry, north of that.
8 A. There are none north of there.
9
10 Q. Would you say it is a fact that there are no pulp and paper
11 mills north of Caledonian Paper Plc and Irvin.
12 A. That is correct, both by what shows on the map and in
13 practical terms.
14
15 Q. So any material from the flow country that would be
16 suitable or destined for pulp, would be transported
17 southwards, would it not? It would have to be?
18 A. If it were going for pulp the answer might be yes.
19
20 Q. Well, it would have to be yes, would it not?
21 A. Well, there would not be another pulp mill there, no,
22 and it is unlikely to be exported to Finland.
23
24 Q. So the two main mills in the North of England and South of
25 Scotland are Caledonian Paper Plc and Iggesund Paperboard
26 according to page 740, yes?
27 A. That is correct, until you get down a little further to
28 Shockle.
29
30 Q. So, is it not in fact likely that some of the paper
31 destined for pulp from the flow country is likely to reach
32 both Iggesund and Caledonian Paper Plc?
33 A. As a matter of fact I could not tell you what
34 proportion of the forest of the] Caithness and wetlands
35 area has reached the stage that it would be extracted in
36 any form for any market. Most of the planting, as you
37 appreciate, has happened in a fairly recent period of time
38 and very little of it has reached the stage of even first
39 thinning. May I correct myself on that, my Lord, because
40 the planting actually did go on much earlier than I have
41 stated. In fact planting in the area has been going on
42 without complaint since 1920 and rather more extensively in
43 the 1950s and then later in the 1980s the programme has
44 ceased. So that it would be fair to say ----
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It was five years after the commencement of
47 the 1980s planting programme that the protest began to be
48 heard?
49 A. That is correct, my Lord.
50
51 MR. MORRIS: So the stuff that is extracted that would be usable
52 for pulp is likely to go to those two northern most mills;
53 would that be a reasonable statement?
54 A. There is a high probability that it would go there
55 depending, of course, on the species and I would say, yes,
56 quite a proportion would go for pulp.
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do you know whether any of the timber from
59 the flow country goes to those mills for pulp?
60 A. It would be necessary to find out precisely, my Lord.
