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The Wainwright Society response to Government plans to sell off parts of the Forestry Commission’s Estate in The Lake District

The Wainwright Society condemns Government plans to sell off parts of the Forestry Commission’s Estate because of the impact the sales will have on public access, landscape quality and bio-diversity.

More than thirty years ago Alfred Wainwright criticised the Forestry Commission because of its blanket afforestation of the Ennerdale valley in the western Lake District.  His attack helped to change Commission policy.  In the intervening years the Commission has actively promoted greater public access in mixed forests where a proportion of broadleaved trees are planted to encourage bio-diversity.  In Ennerdale, the Sitka spruce forests have been felled and the valley is being returned to its wild state.  Elsewhere, at Whinlatter and on The Dodd, mixed age and species plantings have softened the impact of commercial afforestation on Lake District landscapes.

The Chairman of the Wainwright Society, Eric Robson, comments,

‘If the sales go ahead we’ll be turning the clock back to the bad old days.  We’re being told by Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, that these sales will encourage a radical new approach to forestry management and will embrace the concept of localism.  In fact, this is a sale being driven by Treasury policy aimed at maximising the returns from the Forestry Commission sale.  The fear is that rules on access and environmental protection will be waived or, at best, lightly applied to encourage the private sector to offer the best price.  This could lead to a return to mono-culture plantings and severely restricted access for groups such as walkers, mountain bikers and horse riders.

Still more worrying is that, at present, the Government is limited in how much of the Forestry Commission it can sell, but clauses buried in a piece of legislation soon to be considered by the House of Lords, The Public Bodies Reform Bill, would allow them to sell off all of the Commission’s holdings.  Huge tracts of the uplands could then be transferred to the private sector with little or no thought for the impact that would have on tourism, public access or the environment.’

Derek Cockell
Press & Publicity Officer
The Wainwright Society
derekcockell@blundeston.freeserve.co.uk