The key working bodies for the Forest Economic Partnership are its sub-groups. These are drawn from stakeholders and interested parties to explore various issues within each sub-group remit and to propose ways forward.

While the Stakeholder meetings are open; Sub-Group meetings are closed and any summary notes are only circulated to members. This enables full and frank discussion of issues and ideas between members. Members commit to attend at least once per quarter to the monthly meetings. This avoids the need to repeat various discussions and agreements so that solutions can move forward.

The  sub-groups focus on areas of particular challenge to the District, each has an individual mission and has the ability to create Action Groups to take forward particular projects in a timely manner.

The current active sub-groups are Education & Skills and Climate Action & Net Zero. Transport, Bridges and Borders and Digital Connectivity have reached natural conclusions and are currently inactive.