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Forests on the Front Line
The Conservatives have got past form on flogging off our forests. They managed to dispose of around 37,000 hectares under Mrs Thatcher and John Major – at which point, only a determined campaign by the Ramblers prevented further damage. This time round, Ministers have indicated that about 40,000 hectares will be put on the market just as soon as possible.
More to the point are the discussions going on between Defra Ministers and the Forestry Commission as to the feasibility of selling off the whole lot – all 250,000 hectares that comprise the public forest estate. But they can’t do that without new legislation, and that may not be so easy.
At the end of October, 38Degrees (an online campaigning organization for a host of good causes) launched its Save our Forests petition. By the end of last week, more than 60,000 signatures had been gathered in, a quite phenomenal response for campaigns of this kind. And that’s before Ministers have revealed their true colours in terms of a total clearance sale. This is clearly going to be one hell of a battle as the ‘greenest government ever’ sets out to save a few tens of millions of pounds by way of its own unique response to the UN’s International Year of the Forest in 2011.
Defra has already started to crank up the propaganda machine. Secretary of State Spelman is keen to point out that forests that are sold will be just as well managed in private hands, that access and other rights will be strictly protected, and that it will be in the long-term interest of citizens for the Forestry Commission to move into a regulatory role rather than an ‘asset management’ role. All of it bunkum.
At the moment, the whole of the public forest estate is independently certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council – the Forestry Commission being the first forest service in the world to achieve this status. New owners will not be required to certify their forests, and the likelihood is that most of them won’t. Only 16% of private woodlands are currently certified. All Forestry Commission woodlands are managed under a Forest Design Plan, which determines the balance between commercial value from the timber, public benefit and environmental protection – the essence of what is known as ‘multifunctional forest management’. There’s more in those forests than money alone. However, there will be no requirement for new owners to maintain any kind of forest design plan, and their track record in this area is hardly encouraging.
And as to access, anyone who buys land freehold from the Forestry Commission is indeed required to allow access on foot, under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, and indeed to keep open public rights of way. However, there will be no requirement to maintain forests walks in good condition, or to provide any kind of parking facilities.
And here’s the rub for Mrs Spelman and her chums in the Forestry Industry. Treasury’s principal concern here is to maximize the financial value of any forest disposals. The harder Defra tries to protect the conservation and amenity value of the forests that are being sold, the lower the sale price they will be able to command on the open market.
To sweeten that pill, there have been lots of bland promises about potential community and NGO buy-outs (‘Big Society’ style), but the likelihood is that this will only cover a tiny percentage of any total disposal plan. Nonetheless, it is slightly worrying to see that those NGO’s who might have some interest in this area (The RSPB, The National Trust, The Woodland Trust, The Wildlife Trust and so on) do seem to be keeping very quiet in terms of what they are saying about the proposed sell-off.
I hope that 38Degrees will be urging the Chief Executives of all of these organizations to add their weight to the Save our Forest petition. Once 60,000 becomes 600,000 (including very large numbers of Conservative voters who will have just woken up to what is going to be happening to ‘their local forest or woodland), it might just be possible to stop the whole idiotic plan in its tracks.
So the question is this: who’s driving this proposal? Treasury Officials? The Chancellor himself? Jim Paice, Junior Minister in Defra, who seems all too keen to prove his cost-cutting credentials? Or Caroline Spelman herself?
And the test for Mrs Spelman is clear: what can she do to prevent an already bad decision turning into a total disaster?
Posted by Jonathon Porritt on November 17, 2010 12:22 PM | Permalink
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Wednesday 17 November 2010
Forests on the Front Line (Jonathon Porritt)
