Since WW2 there have been grants for removing trees and woodlands so more food could be produced. There are grants for planting trees. It's a pity that a lot of the grants are encouraging pointless planting in woodlands, when traditional coppicing would allow wood production for fuel at a maximum rate anyway. There is the statement that young trees use up seven times the CO2 that old trees use. A daft statement really, as quite a lot of the big tree will be burnt as waste, so should that be added to the small tree to be a bit more realistic.
South of the Thames, the figures for 10 years ago were that the volume of wood was increasing at the rate of 10^6 cu. mtr per year. The problem is finding a market for the timber. If people would think wood more, then there would be an economic reason for growing trees, so more would be grown. It would help if fewer trees were imported of course.
Plastics are cheap at present because oil is relatively cheap, but in a few years, things may change dramatically, then wood will become more attractive. With the right wood and the right treatment, wood can last for decades or even centuries, rather better than plastics.
The big bits of trees get used for construction, and at the other end everything could be chipped and used for fuel, this is the only sustainable fuel as trees works like a solar battery.
The really big problem will be that Britain cannot support 60million people without food imports and all the oil derived fuel.
