Half of England's Forestry Commission land could be sold off under Government plans
The coalition Government plans to sell off half the Forestry Commission’s land in England, according to a newspaper report.
The move was condemned as environmental vandalism by a leading Green politician.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Caroline Spelman wants to sell off half the commission’s 748,000ha of land as a contribution to Chancellor George Osborne’s attempt to cut public spending by £81bn.
However, Forest Commission land in Scotland and Wales is a devolved measure, so the Westminster Government would be able to sell off only parts of the English estate, which totals only 258,000ha, with an estimated value, according to the FC’s latest accounts, of £697m, of which just over 200,000ha is woodland.
An attempt in the 1990s by John Major’s government to sell off the Forestry Commission failed due to lack of interest from potential buyers and a concerted environmental campaign against the sale.
Caroline Lucas, the only Green Party MP in the House of Commons, Tweeted: “If Government plans mean vast areas of valuable forest being sold to private developers, it will be unforgiveable act of environmental vandalism.”
And Allan MacKenzie, secretary of the Forestry Commission Trade Unions, told the Sunday Telegraph: “We will oppose any land sale. Once we’ve sold it, it never comes back.
“Once it is sold restrictions are placed on the land which means the public don’t get the same access to the land and facilities that are provided by the public forest estate.
“The current system means a vast amount of people can enjoy forests and feel ownership of them. It is an integral part of society.”
The FC, which plants 17 million trees each year, also employs more than 3,000 people, mostly in rural areas. More than 50 million visitors use its land every year and it provides 2,600 km of cycle trails.
There are also 61 visitor centres, 183 easy-access trails and 103 forest classrooms or educational facilities.
The commission produces almost 5m tonnes of timber a year – more than 40 per cent of UK wood production or around 300 forty-tonne truckloads of timber every day and maintains 24,000 km of forest roads – seven times the total amount of motorway in Britain.
Labour’s Shadow Defra Secretary Mary Creagh told the Guardian: “We are concerned developers will cherry-pick the most profitable land and we will see huge pressure for development in sensitive places. The environment is going to pay a high price for its settlement in the recent spending review.”
In recent years, the Forestry Commission has undertaken major environmental projects such as the ‘rewilding’ of Ennerdale in the Lake District, ridding the valley of many of the conifer plantations despised by Alfred Wainwright.
It has also set up the new visitor facility and cycle trails in the Grizedale Forest, opened by top rockclimber Leo Houlding. Britain’s newest national park, the South Downs, includes more than 5,800ha of woodland and open countryside managed by the FC.
It has also carried out work in northern England to help the re-establishment of red squirrels and halt the incursion of the non-native grey squirrel.
The Forestry Commission was set up during the First World War to deal with the war effort’s need for timber. Its first trees were planted on 8 December 1919 at Eggesford Forest, Devon.
The forest estate expanded between the 1950s and 70s, nearly doubling to 1.6m ha as mechanisation increased and investment in forestry soared. After this period, conservation and amenity issues became more central in the commission’s planning and forestry policy and today, its estates provide both timber and outdoor activities.
Denis J Vickers
24 October 2010As an ecologist I find it hard to believe that this is a serious suggestion - if it is true. Such environmental vandalism could be expected from the most right wing Tory Party since the war but I would expect much more from the Liberal Democrats, the other members of the coalition, who have always been proud of their green credentials.
We talk about bringing native species back from the brink of extinction and climate change...what message is this, what is our legacy to our children?
Paul Brockman
25 October 2010This is a criminal act against nature and the enviroment, this goverment has no idea about the impact this will have, it will create a dessert of concreate. if they want to sell it, sell it to people who care about out ancient woodland and forest.
I live in the New Forest, and I need the forest for my livelyhood to motivate and inspire young people to take up a careers within the land based industry
I am not going to stand idlely by and allow these criminals destroy our ancient woodlands.....why don't they sell off goverment buildings instead
Talia W
25 October 2010An e-petition has been started to oppose the sell-off:
http://www.petition.co.uk/stop-uk-forestry-destruction
I Albion
25 October 2010Notice this is only in England ,this is a devolved issue so they can not touch Scottish and Welsh forests.
But our coalition leaders do not make this clear. Why????
Ri Ferrier
25 October 2010How dare they? This is the riding feeling I have at the moment. We have to stand together to stop this happening.
Barry King
25 October 2010First we're prevented from collecting dead and fallen timber from Forestry Commission woodlands. If the sell off goes through we won't even be allowed to ramble through these glorious places.
Tanya Gato
25 October 2010Hi
I am a forest manager with a private sector forest management company. I fear thre is a lot of unnecessary histeria round this topic. Forests are , quite rightly heavily protected by law, regardless of who manages orn owns them. Forestry in the UK (both private and public sector) is based on sound land management principles, and is about achieving a sustained yield by a cycle of felling and replanting, in order to produce a sustainable raw material. It is emphatically NOT about "logging", i.e. the indiscriminate cutting down of natural forest without thought for the future, such as has happened on the West Coast of the US/Canada/tropical rainforest etc. Felling in the UK is carried out in a planned, highly regulated mannner, with care to ensure gradual phasing, avoidance of catastrophic change to the forest environment, and with due regard for the protection of fragile habitats, & ancient trees. The replanting is done in accordance with a plan agreed with the Forestry Authority, and must contain native broadleaf species, leave some open habitat areas, have due regard for water quality and riverside habitatas, and protect ancient woodland areas. You would not believe the snowstorm of paperwork involved in proposing a felling operation, getting a licence, agreeing phasing, timber volumes to be taken, and replanting designs, let alone the health and safety and environmental record keeping. But that is as it should be. Forests are important for all, they impact on landscape, wildlife, water quality, and provide us with sustainable building materials. As foresters we are well aware of our responsibilities. But we have clearly failed to communicate to others what we do and how we do it if the alarmist responses we are seeing are anything to go by. TG
Jhimmy
25 October 2010This is how it works.
1. Sell the forestry off to rich people and make a profit.
2. Spend back that profit to the rich people to help subsidise the forestry.
...or am I being cynical?
Peter Wood
25 October 2010If you believe what is written in the Sunday papers, God help you. Before we become furious we should perhaps check the facts. As for devolution, you will see from recent moves that both FC Wales and FC Scotland have either attempted to sell-off land and/or property or have dome so. In one case in Scotland campaigners halted the sale. There is no confirmation by DEFRA of the S. Tel report though that does not mean it isn't accurate.
Mr R Energy
26 October 2010Thanks to all the people who voted these tory criminals into power...well done. What did you expect.
The tories are whinning on about how Labour bought England near to bankruptcy,and yet any one with a bit of common sense can see its the greedy evil bankers behind this whole scam.
We need an uprising in this country and maybe finally we will get one.
Selling off this forest land is a criminal offence,and only non violent mass demonstrations will stop it.
Cameron is a Bilderburger,check that out on google and get educated,his masters are the big banks and indusrialists.He is just a pathetic puppet hanging on a very thin string.
Dont let him get away with this sell off....get up and do some thing about it.
Al
26 October 2010Well, Mr R Energy, I think it's time to drop the whining leftisms and get back on topic.
I voted Conservative, but not to see our forests and ancient woodlands sold off. Yes, Gordon Clown was a completely incompetent and useless a chancellor as he was Prime Minister, throwing our money away hand over fist, and he has left us right 'in it'.
However, I don't think this can possibly be a serious proposal. Well, I sincerely hope not, anyway. We will just have to await the outcome!
Al
26 October 2010Also, Mr R Energy, I have taken your advice and googled 'Bilderburger' only to find that Peter Mandleson is one also!
It's only a silly conspiracy anyway, but if you want to live on a fantasy world, by all means continue!
R Webb
26 October 2010Unbelievably They can and nearly always do stop you walking in woodland in England. As soon as the woods go, the signs and thugs will appear.
However it need not be like this. A similar process occurred in the 1980s. Ledbury woke up to find the forest on their doorstep "closed" overnight. They just ignored the new owners who backed down.
Keep a record of your local FC woodland and keep visiting, what ever they do.
On a more positive note, there are already sales in progress
http://www.johnclegg.co.uk/properties-for-sale/
Often, there is a note in the sales particulars as too forbid gomlism.
Edward Mills
27 October 2010455 hectares are in the proces of being sold in NW England currently. Each English region will have its own sales programme. Personally, I am against a reduction in the state forest area (we already have the smallest state forest in Europe), but I am not necessarily against the sale of these particular woods. Most are being sold with a right to roam on foot. As privately owned woods, they can still provide all the benefits and public goods that they do as publicly owned woods. What is criminal is that the proceeds are not being ploughed back into forestry or the environment in general, but are just sent to the treasury!
LS
27 October 2010I'm really upset about this. It's an awful idea. Our ancient forests and woodland are rarer than ever and need to be protected not sold off for a quick profit.
I've signed a petition to save our forests and tell the government that it's not right to make these knee-jerk decisions just to try to balance the books. It's a short-term gain but will do long-term damage to our environment.
If anyone else wants to sign the petition too, you can go to 38 Degrees' website and sign it here: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/save-our-forests4 (Apparently it got over 10,000 signatures in 24 hours!)
foresters wife
27 October 2010As i am married to a forestry commission forester who has worked for over the last 22 years in the forests of England. Let me clear one thing up all staff in England are facing redunancies, they are looking at selling off woodland and also closing all access to the public as will happen if centre parcs etc get in.
You might think im worrying about my personal future but we are more worried about Englands future once this goes through. All our native wildlife will fall into decline and this government again, after john majors failed attempt when he was pm, are not thinking ahead to what the enviromental damage will be for future generations.
Our FC has the skills and expertise to manage our woodlands, create habitats and play a huge role in the big society.
In Scotland a huge proportion of the woodlands there are owned by the wealthy as write offs for their taxes, now that the banks are not a good bet it makes me and others think that the government will get less tax when all these wealthy prospective owners need to off load their excess wealth.
please help to stop this happening
Thankyou.
Liddy s
27 October 2010The government have now proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that they shouldn't be in charge of our ancient forests. They see them as a commodity. They are not. Get the deficit down? We will all be the more impoverished for it. Clearing ancient woodland is not just chopping down a few trees but destroying an irreplaceable ecosystem which has taken time to evolve and support rare life. The tranquillity, sights, smells, stillness, wildlife and utter beauty lost to the next generation. Once it is gone, it is gone, never to be seen again. To my mind this is a mass looting of the British people and their heritage by a criminal government. Surely there must be widespread opposition? It should be stopped before the forests are sold off and we see large swathes of deforestation. A shame the government doesn't feel our environment is a worthwhile investment. Private investors will be laughing all the way to the bank.
Roger Noddy
27 October 2010THE ROLE OF FORESTRY TODAY.
Forest policy has been changing since the 1980s with a change from primarily timber production in conifer plantations to what is now a multi-purpose activity. Timber production is still a valid activity with many economically successful markets, also wildlife & habitat conservation and improvement, along with public access for a variety of activities are core duties. The Forestry Commission (FC) estate is sustainably managed in accordance with the globally recognised principles & criteria of the Forest Stewardship Council. The three main headings of these principles are Social; Economic; Environmental. A balance has to be met here and the whole activity from forest management right through a chain of custody is independently certified. The FSC principles are applied via the UK Woodland Assurance Standard, UKWAS.
http://www.fsc-uk.org /
http://www.ukwas.org.uk/
The FC is the organisation owning and looking after the forests and woodlands of the nation on behalf of you, the taxpayer. Like all of us it is not perfect and has suffered much bad press in the past, especially from the 1960s days of large conifer plantations. A lot has changed since then and now a wider remit is observed. Native species are favoured and encouraged, the environmental value of conifers is recognised where appropriate and areas which are better off being restored to non tree cover like heath and moorland are managed thus.
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-74ELXU
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/anw-policy.pdf/$FILE/anw-policy.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestry_Commission
Public access on the FC estate is covered by the Countryside Rights of Way (CroW) Act. This means there is a right to roam on any land dedicated under CroW. Most, although not all, FC land has public access dedicated under CroW. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countryside_and_Rights_of_Way_Act_2000
Dangers of the sell off to the private sector include massive changes in who owns the forests (unaccountable organisations; multinational corporations; dismissive landowners), how they are managed (development for housing; roads; golf courses; theme parks, mineral extraction), potential for environmental damage (unsustainable & inappropriate logging; felling ancient trees; disruption & disturbance of wildlife), a reduction or complete removal of public access rights (changes to access laws and rights of way; landowners allowing footpaths & access routes to overgrow with vegetation making them inaccessible and discouraging access; intimidation of those with legal access to discourage further visits by them in future). It would be impossible to police any rights the public currently enjoy in the forests and woodlands, should they be sold off to the private sector.
If the forests are sold off you may find the new owners are not what you would expect. They could end up in the hands of, Saudi princes; Russian oil oligarchs; Asian billionaire businessmen; foreign investment banks & insurance companies; all people who may care little for the forests they own apart from their value on the financial balance sheet. Little notice will be taken of us little Britons who at present enjoy all the aspects that forests and woodlands have to offer us.
Forests could initially be sold to a good person who cares for and manages their forest well, but once in the private sector there is no control of where they go from then on. They could quite easily be sold in the future on to someone not so caring, who could mismanage their forests to harm the economic potential, the environmental infrastructure and the benefits to people and society as a whole. While the forests are in public ownership accountability is assured and easily managed if things were to go awry.
The coalition government could quite easily change the law regarding access if the woods are sold to the private sector, especially if they come under pressure from multinational corporation owners, bodies that governments rarely if ever, stand up to. Just look at the failed efforts of Vince Cable to get Rupert Murdoch to pay any taxes to the UK government, despite him having financially lucrative businesses operating in this country, or Vodaphone who have avoided paying £6 Billion (£6,000,000,000) in tax revenue.
Guarantees offered by government prior to any sell off would guarantee absolutely nothing. There could be no effective management of any conditions made by government prior to the sale of any forests or woodlands, laws could be made, changed or deleted at the drop of a hat.
To summarise, the nation's forests and woodlands offer a variety of multiple benefits to a wide variety of stakeholders. Once it is gone it really is gone, and gone forever. Keep the forests in the public (your) ownership and all will be ok. And as the old saying goes, you will never really miss something until it is not there any more.
James
28 October 2010I agree with the majority of comments - this is ludicrous and outrageous !!! We must stop this from happening - write to your MP's and send your letter of protest to 10 Downing Street. Facebook have 'Save Britains Forests' campaign, which is worth supporting as well as the petition mentioned above.
The Forestry Commission is a brilliant organisation - yes, they had bad press in the past, but that's over 30 years ago. They are one of the governments most pragmatic departments who actually delivery real benefits, outputs and outcomes. In the scheme of things the govt would get peanuts for the land - and once it's gone, it's gone - it's like selling the family silver !! Oppose this strongly and make your views known.
DL
28 October 2010Defra should also be ashamed of themselves - they are jealous of the Forestry Commission.
A
29 October 2010I am a forester and countryside manager. I have worked for the FC in the passed. I like to think i have an informed view on how our forests are managed. Tanya is right in what she says. Please do not make knee jerk reactions based on newspaper reports, do your own impartial research, via FC website, privet forestry companies websites, Forestry school lecturers, foresters, ecologists. Understand the history of the UK's forest, woodland and tree cover. "Our ancient forests" rants and raves are all well and good but as has been said if you want to get nitpicky, there are virtually no ancient woodlands that haven't had some for of human interaction or "management" on these isles. There are so many policies, hoops to jump through, conservation designations both uk, Europe and international as well as forestry standards (FSC) linked to managing forest/woodlands, along with ancient rights/laws (Forest of Dean) that doing anything in a woodland anywhere near turning it into concreted area's, centre parcs etc is very difficult.
If any area's are sold i would hope they are the purely commercial areas, maybe the outlying blocks that are very remote, hard to manage (steep hillsides etc). Hopefully this will reduce FC running costs and make them a more sleek dept, able to enforce these above regulations and patroo the uk foresty industry, promote tree expansion, more multi objective management, conservation, education etc.
We all use wood, more than we appreciate.
Rage against the machine people, it is your right.....make it count everytime by being bolder, smarter and more informed of the details than the next rock throwing drone.
A
29 October 2010Foresters wife, this does sound very drastic and i am sorry to hear about the potential redundencies.
I must highlight that i am in scotland where these potential sales do not affect....phew indeed.
Ann
02 November 2010I am appalled by this proposal. In fact, I've been feeling physically sick since I heard the news. First we had Gordon Brown selling off gold assets and now we have David Cameron proposing to flog our much more valuable green ones. Maybe this rookie "government" is still too wet behind the ears to have noticed that England, and all districts in the country have biodiversity strategies. Maybe they haven't noticed the climate change policies either.
So while Europe is creating a massive trans-boundary green belt of protected lands about 4,500 miles in length to protect the natural world from development - and protect humans from the consequences of destroying our life support system - here our government is planning to vandalize our forest habitat to support the failed "forever growth" model. It's about time these people factored in the value of ecological services (water and air purification, carbon sequestering, oxygen production, flood control, pollination, habitat, soil formation, etc.), which have been estimated by some ecological economists to be worth around 20 TRILLION POUNDS a year globally. Then maybe they would notice that our forests are simply too valuable to cut down for short-term profits.
If we can overturn the Ministry of Transport's 20 billion pound road building scheme (of a few years ago) that would have destroyed natural areas and national monuments, and if we can stop a new runway at Heathrow, we can stop this utter lunacy as well.
Ann
03 November 2010The old protest song below from 1764 seems very appropriate today given the government's plans to sell off half of "state" (PUBLICLY-OWNED) forest.
Public rights-of-way (foot and bridle paths, drover's roads, pilgrim's ways) in Britain are determined by use. The people everywhere across Britain access these publicly-owned forests and the pathways through them could well be characterized as rights-of-way, and the rights-of-way designation is quite hard to remove.
Don't let the greater criminals (government and private sector) steal the common (forests) from the goose (people)!!
They hang the man and flog the woman
Who steals the goose from off the common,
But let the greater criminal loose
That steals the common from the goose.
The law demands that we atone
When we take things we do not own
But leaves the lords and ladies fine
Who take things that are yours and mine.
The poor and wretched don't escape
If they conspire the law to break;
This must be so, but they endure
Those who conspire to make the law.
The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common,
But their geese will still a common lack
Till they go and steal it back.
Paul McAnulty
04 November 2010Are not some of the most special wooded areas of the UK not designated SSSI/ASSI/SAC and/or National Nature Reserves? Therefore noone is going to be able to cut them down. Just a thought. The parts that could be harvested are recent soft wood plantations of poor biodiversity value. Damage to a SAC site could mean costly infraction fines from the EU.
foresters wife
04 November 2010that is fine but the government are meeting today to stop these safe guards. they are rewriting the legislation so it will be easy to sell all areas off.
They seem to want to pay £100 million to europe than invest in their own areas.
Bob Roe ,ex-forester
04 November 2010Totally agree with you Roger Noddy and foresters wife. The FC should be made larger and given more power and resources not the opposite. I dread to think if these woods fall into private hands and large syndicates. As for SSSI etc. these also would be closed to the public so although Yes they are strictly controlled but still can be thinned. who would walk and enjoy the ancient trees and flora? no one
Roger Noddy
12 November 2010Have a look at these
http://www.theforester.co.uk/Letters.cfm?id=39768&headline=Make+the+right+choice+on+our+green+heritage
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hands-Off-Our-Forest-of-Dean/137509286301120?ref=mf&v=wall
Edward Mills
21 November 2010Isn't anyone listening? I've never seen such a lot of uninformed comment (with some honourable exceptions), not just here but in the newspapers as well; I know its for the best of intentions, but people need to understand a bit more about the countryside before firing off stuff that's not going to help.
Now, although I'm not in favour of this sell-off.......most SSSIs, SACs etc are already privately owned, and protected by legislation. Selling off ancient woodland is not "clearing" it; golf courses will not be made in ex-FC forest. There are many checks and balances - planning, felling licences, designations and so on; we also have some excellent watch-dog organisations to help keep an eye on things - wildlife trusts, the woodland trust, CPRE, the Ramblers etc.
The sell-off is just the prelude.......the Government may well eventually get rid of the Forestry Commission and we should target our efforts to stop this happening.
Bob Roe
23 November 2010The Forestry Commission have managed their woodlands very sympathetically, balancing timber production with recreation and wildlife conservation in a way that has caused minimum public conflict. It is very doubtful that the private sector would have the same sensitivities to achieve the same balance.
Robin hassall
26 November 2010The whole Public Forest Estate is only valued at £700 million according to House of Commons SN/SC/5734 23 Nov 2010. This is a drop in the ocean compared with the billions wasted by the banks. Not all FC land is like the picture at the top, which is a perfect example of bad landscaping and monoculture. Much of it has a high environmental value and is much used for recreational amenity. It appals me that such places, so beautiful and dear to the hearts of many, should also be trashed as a result of the activities of greedy bankers and hedge fund gamblers.
Nannette Brown
05 December 2010How much longer will we tolerate the policies of a government driven by lies about the deficit? How much time have we got to lift the veil of deception which they wear so well. Before long we will have been stripped of every viable public asset this country has left. Does Caroline Spelman feel that we as a nation would benefit more from privately owned forests. I ask what's in it for her? How and why should she or anyone else be allowed, or have the power to sell off this countries great forests. I am very frightened by what is happening under this government. There seems to be no pride for what we have, our rights to an education, our right to enjoy our forests, our rights to a good NHS. The government asks are we happy? What would make us happy? Knowing we can have a walk in a forest without having to pay an entrance fee.
r.johnstone
20 December 2010just like to add,legislation changes ,junior ministers,conservatives,will sell all f,c land which is public land .never mind it is the most artifically managed landscape in europe but it is managed for the greater good i.e wildlife,timber production,recreation,and it needs to expand .
yet we all forget the money spent on forestry is trivial,there is more goverment grants given to private sector landowners to plant,fence,and pay for private woodland managers who also make their profits from these grants so not all the money gets to into expanding forests,and if you really looked into it most conditions of the grant are never met ,thats the beauty of a transparent forestry you do not see the service provider lining their own pocket.
feel free to ask who gets the grants and who has had them you be shocked.
its also funny that the scottish and welsh think they are immune ,snp already tried to sell the profitable bits,but funny lib dems,cons,lab,were all up in arms over it.
also do the scots and welsh do not realise maggie ,john,now plastic david cameron,and clegg are all millionaires being offered mega future deals as friends of the rich lobbiests to let them buy these forests ,along with the resentment these conservatives have for wales and scotland for not letting them in.
our rights will not be taken away but long term tax losses tied to these forests will have you unable to use that path ,find a bench to sit at ,or cycle route to enjoy or see a full time employee who cares for these enviroments
,maybe a cynical view but look to newzealand you will be shocked if not sickned .