Widespread protests, including this one by seven-year-old Fergus Meanwell in Grizedale, have greeted the plans

Signs that the huge campaign against privatisation of England’s forests may be prompting a rethink by the coalition Government emerged today.

Speaking on the BBC’s Politics Show, Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, denied the sell-off was a ‘done deal’.

And her department this afternoon vehemently denied further reports there were plans to put England’s National Nature Reserves up for sale.

With opponents of all political shades and public figures such as the Archbishop of Canterbury taking a stand against the proposal to sell Forestry Commission land in England, the Government showed signs of a retreat on an issue being described by some political commentators as potentially ‘David Cameron’s poll tax’.

Ms Spelman, Conservative MP for Meriden, blamed ‘wild speculation’ about the proposals for much of the concern. She said: “We are in week two of a 12-week consultation process, right at the beginning of the consultation process and I think we’ve managed to bust a few myths that we aren’t about to sell off the forests or restrict access; quite the reverse.”

“Unlike some of the consultations we saw in the past, like the Post Office closures, where you knew it was a done deal, this is genuinely open and we want people to get involved with this consultation because it’s about greater local accountability and some greener solutions.”

She said suggestions that, for example, parts of the New Forest could become a golf course were to blame for much of the furore.

She denied she was pulling back from the proposals. “No, not at all. I’m trying to make the point there has been a huge amount of speculation about what our proposals actually are,” she said.

But the BBC said Government sources told the BBC’s Politics Show that the controversial proposals are about to be substantially watered down, or dropped altogether.

The equally controversial proposals giving the Secretary of State unfettered powers to sell off public assets, contained in the Public Bodies Bill currently passing through Parliament, were not aired.

In a further sign of Government concerns at the widespread backlash against its countryside policies, Defra issued a ‘myth-busting’ statement denying the Government had performed a u-turn on the plan to privatise the country’s National Nature Reserves.

The Defra statement said: “This is not a u turn. There is no consultation paper on the ownership of the National Nature Reserves, and there will not be.

“Officials and Natural England have been scoping a range of options as you would expect – but Ministers have decided that the National Nature Reserves will remain in public ownership.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with our NGOs [non-Government organisations], to tap into their expertise to make sure our National Nature Reserves are looked after in the best possible way.”

Almost half a million people have now signed an online petition organised by 38 Degrees that calls on the Government to abandon its plans for Forestry Commission land.