Government scraps forestry sale plans

By Jim Pickard, Political Correspondent

Published: February 16 2011 16:28 | Last updated: February 17 2011 12:51

Caroline Spelman, environment secretary, announced on Thursday she was scrapping plans to sell much of the state-owned woodland in England, confirming a sharp policy U-turn that had been signalled by the prime minister the previous day.

Announcing that the government was abandoning a consultation on plans that had aimed to raise up to £350m, she said the government would also remove proposals contained in legislation going through parliament relating to the sale of forests.

She told MPs: “I am sorry. We got this one wrong. But we have listened to people’s concerns.”

She said the government would establish a new panel of experts to address issues of public access and biodiversity within the publicly owned woodland.

David Cameron had signalled the U-turn on Wednesday, when he told the House of Commons he did not approve of his government’s own policy.

The retreat severely undermines Ms Spelman, who has been pursuing a review of the Forestry Commission as part of her attempt to cut costs at the environment department. It also underlines Mr Cameron’s willingness to ditch policies when faced with a public outcry.

Environmental campaigners welcomed the move, but said it would not be enough to ease anxiety over the fate of the country’s forests.

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union, which represents Forestry Commission workers, said: “Simply calling off the consultation will not be enough to protect the kind of forests people rightly want, and the government should also now put a stop to the cuts at the Commission.’’

Campaigners in the Forest of Dean were preparing to celebrate victory on Thursday, but said they would still be seeking cast iron guarantees their forest would remain publicly owned and managed and the Forestry Commission would be strengthened – not weakened by job losses – to continue its role.

Mr Cameron spoke out against Ms Spelman’s proposals on Wednesday when Ed Miliband, Labour leader, asked Mr Cameron if he was happy with a sell-off of public forests. “The short answer to that is, No,” Mr Cameron replied, taking MPs on both sides of the Commons by surprise.

Ms Spelman planned to sell much of the “commercial” forestry on long leases to private operators while transferring native “heritage” woodland to charities and community groups.

However, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs, inundated with letters of complaint, have been unhappy for weeks about the public backlash over the policy.

“It’s been handled appallingly,” said one minister. Some backbenchers have privately raised questions over Ms Spelman’s cabinet future as a result of the row.

Mr Cameron said he had not been forced into a policy reversal given that the forest plans had always been a consultation rather than a firm plan of action.

“It is a consultation that was put forward,” he said. “We’ve had a range of interesting responses to this consultation. What is important is that we should be making sure that, whatever happens, we increase access to our forests, we increase biodiversity and we don’t make the mistake that was made under the last government where they sold forests with no access rights at all.”

Ms Spelman said last Friday that she would delay an initial sale of 15 per cent of the forest estate to ensure it met biodiversity and access criteria. She insisted that this would not herald a wider reversal on the ­policy.