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OUR FORESTS and FOREST CAMPAIGNS NETWORK

FOREST CAMPAIGNS NETWORK

Wednesday 6th February 2013

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO INPEPENDENT REPORT IS BROADLY WELCOMED

But concerns remain over lack of funding

In a statement released today, Forest Campaigns Network say:

We welcome the commitments given by Government:

• to keep the Public Forest Estate in public ownership
• to recognise the importance of our forest culture to the economy
• to confirm that forests and woodlands will not be sold and to formally rescind the suspended sale of 15% of the Public Forest Estate
• to engage stakeholders, communities, and those who spoke up for our forests, in designing how they are run in future
• to increase and improve public access to woodland, including private woodlands
• to increase tree cover and provide woodlands accessible to where people live

However, we do have concerns about the statement:

On funding

• We welcome the commitment by the Government to provide £3.5 million next year to make up the shortfall now that they have dropped their policy of selling off woodlands to fund the remainder of the PFE but would point out that this is not new money. It was already in the budget for 2013-14.

• We welcome the £2 million the government is providing to the Forestry Commission, but would point out that this is going to be stretched to cover the fight against plant diseases and implementing changes in the government statement, and only a small proportion of it will go to fund the Public Forest Estate.

• We are concerned that the money the Government has committed falls a long way short of the £22 million a year recommended by the Forestry Panel report. We believe this is the amount needed to ensure all can enjoy the standard of public benefits currently offered by our public forests – access, facilities, education – and to make sure our forests are protected.

• We note that the Government has also not yet committed funding beyond 2014.

Wednesday 23rd January 2013

GET THE ECONOMICS RIGHT!

Our Forests warns Government on Public Forest Estate

As the Government is poised to set out its policy on the future of England’s public woods and forests - and on the Forestry Commission which manages them - an economic analysis carried out for Our Forests confirms that both the Public Forest Estate and the Forestry Commission represent excellent value for public money.

A financial review by the independent consultancy Eunomia of the costs and benefits provided by the Public Forest Estate (PFE) shows that the Government’s original rationale for disposing of our public woods and forest and altering their management arrangements was completely flawed.

The stated rationale behind the Government’s proposed disposal of England’s Public Forest Estate (PFE) in 2010/11 was to:
- reduce the burden on taxpayers;
- raise revenue by selling assets;
- withdraw from activities that (in the Government’s view) would be better done by others – be those ‘Big Society’, charitable bodies or private commercial interests.

But Eunomia’s analysis is that none of the Government’s stated objectives would have been achieved by those plans.

You can read the full document from Our Forests here

Thursday 10th January 2013

Forest campaign groups demand properly funded public forests in England.

In an open letter to DEFRA ministers Owen Paterson and David Heath and to Chancellor George Osborne, Forest Campaigns Network have expressed concern that there has not been any commitment from Government departments regarding adequate funding of the Independent Panel's recommendations.

They ask for a firm assurance that the Government will ensure a properly funded future for our public English forests.

The full letter can be viewed here

Forest Campaigns Network have also released a briefing document that looks at the spending review cuts and the very real impact that they are already having on our public forests and the consequences if cuts continue to be imposed. Click here to view

Monday 17th September 2012

A new document, explaining how the Forest Campaigns Network (FCN) engages with DEFRA and the Forestry Commission, has been published today.

It begins "FCN welcomes the engagement we have had with the DEFRA/FC working group to date and look forward to working with them further as part of the crucial process in determining how our woods and forests will sustainably deliver the triple bottom line (good for our economy, good for our communities and good for our environment)".

Read the full document here

OUR FORESTS

Friday 17th February 2012

"In our opinion, there is little likelihood of this Government ‘doing the right thing’ by way of the Public Forest Estate unless it is strenuously encouraged so to do by all and sundry"

This is the conclusion of an OUR FORESTS meeting held on 6 February 2012 at Forum for the Future, London

Read the complete notes of the meeting here

"...get our public woods and forests out of the hands of distant, detached ministers only interested in short-term asset-stripping and protect them for everyone, for ever".

Rich Daniels, HOOF Chairman and member of Our Forests, writing in Our Forests latest publication

Reaction from Jonathon Porritt on the The Independent Panel on Forestry's interim report

Jonathon Porritt, founder member of Our Forests, talking at the HOOF rally.

Jonathon Porritt of Our Forests said,
“It’s good to see the Panel acknowledge openly what was obvious to anyone who looked at the figures – the Forestry Commission delivers very good value for money for all the public benefits it provides from the woods and forests of the public forest estate.
Defra’s own internal impacts study of the proposed disposal made that clear, but that fact didn’t suit the political agenda of the Government. This welcome acknowledgement by the Panel confirms it was politics not economics that drove the disposal proposal - there isn’t and never was a convincing financial case for disposing of our public woods and forests. Their benefits far outweigh their costs.
As an ‘interim report’, the Panel doesn’t put forward any concrete recommendations, but Our Forests is concerned at the apparent havering over the future role of the Forestry Commission. The majority of people who responded to the Panel and the hundreds of thousands more who forced the Government to halt its plans in the first place, see the Public Forest Estate and the Forestry Commission as indivisible. As far as most people are concerned, the Forestry Commission is part of ‘Big Society’ - accountable to local people, not the distant, detached ‘Quango’ ministers sought to caricature it as.
One immediate action that the Government must take in response to its own Panel's report is to state unequivocally that no disposal of any public woodland will proceed until a final forward plan for the Public Forest Estate has been set out and accepted by the public.
Our Forests is producing its own future Vision and long-term strategy for our public woods and forests, as well as looking beyond those. This will be published shortly and made available for people’s input.”

DEFRA turns down Freedom of Information request!

Our Forests to make formal complaint against a ruling that is seen as "A manifest abuse of both the broad principles and the specific guidelines under the Freedom of Information Act".

HOOF chairman, Rich Daniels, is an
Our Forests committee member

The full text of this and other issues raised at their last meeting can be read here in the Our Forests minutes.

7th November 2011

HOOF is One Year Old!

Hard to believe but it is a year ago today that HOOF was first formed to fight the forest privatisation menace.

Much has happened in that year but there is still much to do.

To mark the event, Ian Standing, HOOF Secretary, has written a marvellous account of our turbulent campaign which you can read here.

Legendary Forest cartoonist BAZ has drawn this cartoon specially for HOOF

Click on image to enlarge.

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HOOF are founder members of the Forest Campaigns Network

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"Maybe this is the defining moment, the point when people say ' This is not right, this is not the way to proceed' ".

Jonathon Porrit, talking at the HOOF rally earlier this year

CLICK THE ICONS AT THE FOOT OF THIS PAGE TO SEE US IN THE FORESTER AND THE REVEIW AND ON FACEBOOK AND YOUTUBE

We are now on Wikipedia

FOLLOW US ON @handsoffdean

Click here to see the long long list of people and organisations who have pledged to support HOOF.

Sunday 10th February 2013

A HUGE THANK YOU!

To all Hands Off Our Forest Supporters

The news from the Government response to the Forestry Panel Report is very encouraging. We have all come a great distance since we all stood on a snowy Speech House field two years ago.

Now the government has committed:

• to keep the Public Forest Estate in public ownership
• to recognise the importance of our forest culture to the economy
• to confirm that forests and woodlands will not be sold and to formally rescind the suspended sale of 15% of the Public Forest Estate
• to engage stakeholders, communities, and those who spoke up for our forests, in designing how they are run in future
• to increase and improve public access to woodland, including private woodlands
• to increase tree cover and provide woodlands accessible to where people live

Friends of HOOF come from an infinitely wide range of people who make up our Forest community; a community which understands our Forest and wishes to see it safe for future generations; a community that has the Forest at its heart.

The truth is simply this: without the support of the people of the Forest of Dean, HOOF would not have been able to achieve what we have.

It is fair to say that the Forest of Dean was the spark that rose to a flame and helped inspire people across our country to stand up for their Forests.

I feel sure that should the situation arise when we need to stand together again, the people of the Forest will be there to answer the call, to protect their Forest, as they have always done.

On behalf of the HOOF Steering group, I would like to pass on a huge thank you for your continued support. We could not have done it without you.

Rich Daniels, Chairman

HOOF's Rich Daniels (third from left) and members ofForest Campaigns Network at a recent meeting with David Heath, Minister for Agriculture and Food (centre).

Photo courtesy of Hen (left) of Save Our Woods

31st Jan 2013

GOVERNMENT PUBLISHES RESPONSE TO INDEPENDENT PANEL REPORT

The Government has published its long awaited statement about the future of our public forests

• Independent panel's report broadly accepted
• Pledge that the English forest estate will remain in public hands and be expanded
• Independent body to safeguard forests will be created
• 15% annual sell off policy dumped

At first glance the Government's response would seem to offer most of what all of us here in the Dean have been campaigning for - but as always the devil is in the detail.

Of particular concern is the lack of committment to funding the Forestry Commission, and the general vagueness of the proposal for future funding, which it says will be decided later.

Rest assured we will be analysing the document closely over the next few days, so come back here to read more.

You can read the report for yourself by clicking here

And of course we would like you to post your opinion of the report on our COMMENT PAGE

Thursday 10th January 2013

HOOF CONTINUES FIGHT FOR FUTURE OF FOREST

- FUNDING AND RESOURCES NOW KEY ISSUES

Hands Off Our Forest is calling on the Government to follow the expert recommendations of the independent panel it set up and provide adequate funding for the future management of our Forest.

HOOF also wants to alert supporters to the fact that “we’re not out of the woods yet!”

The first HOOF protest march just over two years ago that kick-started the

nation-wide rebellion against the privatisation of our forests

HOOF considers that we Foresters have won two rounds of the battle to keep our Forest public – signalled by the Government’s U-turn on sales and the panel’s positive report which upholds the principles of public management and ownership.

But it’s now time for Round 3, which we still need to win to secure the future of the Forest of Dean in public hands.

The Government’s official response to the July 2012 Independent Panel Report, commissioned by the former environment secretary Caroline Spelman, is due to be published later this month (January 2013), and HOOF is gearing up for action once again in order to respond to it.

HOOF welcomed the panel’s report and Mrs Spelman’s confirmation that our Forest would remain in public ownership. HOOF also largely welcomed the panel’s proposals for an evolved Forestry Commission which would enable the management of the Dean and other public forests by a public body removed from governmental interference and with more community involvement.

However, the report did not mention our own Forest’s peculiar rights and customs and how they would be protected and enshrined in any future legislation and Charter;

HOOF also raised concerns about how the proposed new model and future management structure would be funded, and called for the costs of creating and maintaining the new structure to be covered and properly resourced from the public purse. It has been estimated that £20 million would be required annually to pay for the upkeep of the public forest estates under the new proposed structure.

HOOF spent the latter half of 2012 lobbying ministers, including meeting with the new Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, the Forestry minister David Heath, and the Forest of Dean MP Mark Harper, as well as joining Defra and Forestry Commission research teams on site visits to the Forest of Dean, on these various points. While the representatives of HOOF and other grassroots forest campaign groups who attended the same meetings have detected a supportive response from all regarding the panel report’s recommendations, HOOF has had no positive feedback regarding the issue of funding.

HOOF chair Rich Daniels said: “The bottom line is the money. Despite the Forestry Commission and the Public Forest Estate providing outstanding value, anything with a cost attached is in serious jeopardy of not being taken forward. If there is a failure of government to safeguard our Forest and its management, we may have to protest all over again!”

Whatever the future outcome on the Forestry Commission’s structure decided by the Government, HOOF, working alongside the Forest Campaigns’ Network (FCN), will press for sufficient funding to be made available to ensure delivery of the various benefits identified in the Panel’s report.

HOOF also continues, with the FCN, to press for new legislation to protect the public woodlands in perpetuity from being sold off.

Thursday 13th September 2012

HOOF's response to the Panel's report

We asked you, the people of the Forest of Dean, what you thought of the final report into the future of England's forests and to help us shape HOOF's response to it.

We have now finished our response, which will be sent to government ministers, local councillors and the press. It can be read and printed out in full here.

Thank you to everyone who contributed their ideas.

The opening paragraphs of the report say that HOOF welcomes the IPF Report and the government’s commitment to retain England’s public forest estate (PFE) in public ownership.

However, we are concerned that the Report makes no distinction between forests. The Forest of Dean is an ancient, historic forest gifted by King George V to the people of the nation, and has many unique traditions and customs.

In addition, many of the Report’s recommendations require further clarity. This document also highlights those recommendations and provides HOOF’s views on how we believe they should be implemented in order to ensure that the spirit of the Panel’s Report is retained.

Wednesday 4th July 2012

INDEPENDENT FORESTRY REPORT WELCOMED BY HOOF AND OTHER CAMPAIGN GROUPS

Historic report seeks to increase forests

Government accepts that our woods will stay in public

hands. Proposed 15% sell-off will no longer go ahead

Forestry Panel Chairman says visit to Forest of Dean “shaped its thinking”

Main points from the report, published on 4th July 2012:

• Public forests must be kept in public ownership
• Forests must be expanded and safeguarded by charter
• Long term planning and financial freedom essential
• Involvement of local groups must be assured
• Access to woods to be increased across England
• Current Forestry Commission duties to be maintained within an evolved Forest Services organisation.

Download it from DEFRA's web site here

HOOF SAYS:

PEOPLE POWER HAS WON THE DAY

HOOF and the people of the Forest of Dean have been vindicated by this report. It appears that people power has won the day. But we do have some questions regarding the future management structure of our forests, which causes us some concern. The devil will be in the detail.

We welcome the recommendation that our forest will remain in public ownership and that Defra has confirmed the 15 per cent planned sales will not go ahead. What we have been calling for since the start of our campaign has been heeded, and it was great to hear Bishop James confirming the panel’s visit to the Forest of Dean shaped its thinking.

We must remain vigilant to ensure the Government acts on the panel’s recommendations, and also provides the funding and resources necessary. There is a need for HOOF to remain strong and representative to ensure the best intentions of the panel and Government are fulfilled.

One of the key recommendations is for a Charter to protect forests, to be managed by a group of "guardians”, that will will oversee the new public forest management organisation. Alan Robertson of HOOF said this is “Probably the single most important recommendation and possibly the most effective way of securing inalienability and protecting the PFE from the depredations of this and future governments".

However, he went on to warn that it was important the Charter should be drawn up by a more representative group than the Panel, and the trustees should likewise be drawn from a wide pool, including the campaigning groups.

He said it was important that HOOF (and Our Forests) continue to influence and monitor the work of the trust.

And Baroness Jan Royall sent us the following message:

Huge thanks to HOOF for their campaigning and their advocacy and for all those people in the Forest who hosted and helped with the visit last year by Bishop James and his colleagues on the Independent Panel on Forestry. The visit was clearly influential and the Panel has done a superb job and produced an excellent report which I warmly welcome.

 

There is real recognition of the many and varied public benefits of our woods and forests and a clear message that we should better value this part of our common heritage. I am delighted that not only does the report say that forests must stay in public hands and be managed sustainably, it recommends that the percentage of our public woodland cover should be increased. I also welcome the Government's announcement that they will not sell off fifteen percent of the forests as planned.

 

We can now work on a cross-party basis to protect biodiversity, create more woodlands and secure access for future generations to enjoy. As the report says, let the public debate continue about the social, environmental and economic opportunities that our forests can deliver. I know that HOOF and the people of the Forest will be a vital part of that debate.

We will be publishing more about this historic report and our reactions to it over the next few days.

Wednesday 27th June 2012

PUBLIC READY TO RISE UP AGAIN IF GOVERNMENT FAILS THEM OVER PUBLIC WOODS AND FORESTS

Community groups from all over England sign declaration

Our Forests, working closely with grassroots & forest community groups across England, has produced a shared declaration of support for our public woods and forests and those who look after them. They also produced a short statement that was agreed by all and which now figures permanently at the top of this page. They have sent this out to all 170 or so MPs whose constituencies include areas of woodland and forest that fall within the public forest estate.

The declaration mirrors the findings of recent surveys, which found that the vast majority of people in the country want to get our public woods out of the hands of the Secretary of State - who effectively can do as he or she wishes with our woods - and secured for the public for all time, funded by the taxpayer.

Grassroots groups who have signed up to the statement are:

Berkshire Save our Woods

Friends of the Lake District
Friends of Thetford Forest
HOOF (Hands Off Our Forest)

Keep Our Forests Public
Save Cannock Chase
Save Chopwell Forest
Save Delamere Forest

Save Kielder
Save Lakelands Forests
Save Our Woods
Save Sandlings Forest

Save Sherwood Forest

South West Surrey Save our Woods

HOOF Chairman and Our Forests member Rich Daniels, said:

"It would be unwise for Government to think that the sale of any significant part of OUR public Forests and woods would pass without reigniting the flames of protest in the hearts of people and forest communities across England. The prospect of any of our public woods and forests being threatened again after we have fought so hard to protect them will be met with even more determined campaigning.”

You can read or download the full document here

Our Forests carried out an independent survey of members of 38 Degrees, which shows overwhelming support for maintaining and expanding the public forest estate.

The survey also showed the willingness of the public to come out in defence of their patch of public woodland should the Government fail to deliver what the public wants for our woods & forests.

You can read or download the full survey results here.

To listen to our very own Forest radio station, click here