The UK Government has decided to drop plans to sell-off 40,000 hectares (15%) of Forestry Commission land to allow a review of woodland protection.
The secretary of state Caroline Spelman said it wanted to re-examine the criteria for the sell-off but their other plans to have non-governmental bodies to take on sections of the 258,000 hectare estate will go ahead.
The Prospect Union warned that only a complete u-turn on the sale of land would protect England’s forests and the wider timber industry.
Prospect Union negotioator Malcoom Currie said “We welcome the fact that the government is thinking again, in the light of the near-universal chorus of opposition to the plans from all sectors of the community,”
Approximately 15 percent of England’s public forests had been planned for sale, with the aim of raising £100million for the government. Today, on Friday morning, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it would hold on to the forest until the fate of the rest of the Forestry Commision’s lands had been decided.
Defra said the sale was being postponed because of concerns over access rights, and will not affect its broader proposal to sell the UK’s nationally owned woods, which is still the subject of public consultation.
The conservation director at the RSPB, Mark Avery, welcomed the move. ”This is a good thing. Lots of forests were going to be sold off without enough protection [for public access rights and wildlife],” he said.
After the consultation, which ends on 21st April, the 15 percent may return to the market for an outright sale. If the government’s current plans go ahead, the rest of the Forestry Commission’s land will be sold on long-term leases.
The government’s plan to sell England’s commercially run forests to private bidders, and the plan to hand over heritage woodlands to charities have outraged conservationists and the wider public. Opinion polls indicate that more than 80 percent of people are opposed to the plans.
A few Tory MPs are known to be nervous about the possible sale, which will not bring in new funds to the government because of the costs involved.
Mary Creagh, the shadow environment secretary, said”[Calling off the 40,000 hectare sale] is a panic measure by a government which has been spooked by the huge public outcry. This partial U-turn will not be enough to silence the protests. This government has not scrapped its plans to sell off the public woodlands,”
Initially, ministers suggested that the sale of the Forestry Commission would help to reduce the deficit, but then had to back down as Defra’s own analysis showed the sale would cost about as much as it would raise. The government also justified the sell-off on the grounds that the Forestry Commission currently suffers from a conflict of interest, as both a regulator and seller of timber, but this was rejected by campaigners.
There was further embarrassment for ministers when it emerged that selling off public woodland could cost millions in lost revenue, as it would widen an existing tax loophole whereby buyers of woodland can avoid inheritance tax.
The National Trust has said it will consider taking on stewardship of some heritage woodlands, but Reynolds added that there were still questions over how it would be paid for. She said it would be hard for charities to take on stewardship of heritage woodland. “It’s a big ask, for any charity,” she said.