Hands Off Our Forest
A campaign to keep the
Forest of Dean out of private hands

 

 

HOOF and the protest against the privatisation of the English forests - a timeline

 

2010
The Government's original White Paper considered a range of options for the disposal of the English Public Forest Estate, including sale on the open market, but it was withdrawn before it went beyond draft stage. Following national newspaper reports based on the draft document in late October, the Government issued a statement that it was exploring “new ownership options”. Click here to read the full document

 

The then-Forestry Minister, Sir James Paice, on November 24, told a Parliamentary select committee inquiry into Forestry that the existing Forestry Act 1967 would allow 15% of the Public Forest Estate to be sold, but that the Public Bodies Bill would allow all of England's public woodlands to be disposed of, and confirmed the Government's intention to do so: Click here to read the full document

 

In December, the Forest of Dean District Council narrowly voted to support HOOF and its aims, and to send a cross-party delegation to Westminster in January 2011. The council made the case for exemption within the Public Bodies Bill here: Click here to read the full document

 

2011
The Government consultation – in place of the promised 'White Paper' - was published in January. It offered no option for keeping the Public Forest Estate in public ownership: Click here to read the full document

 

HOOF produced a Q&A leaflet explaining the Government proposals in its consultation document, and our opposition to them: Click here to read the full document

 

On February 17, the then-environment secretary Caroline Spelman, apologised to Parliament, suspended the sale of 15% of the Public Forest Estate, halted the public consultation and scrapped the forestry clauses from the Public Bodies Bill. She announced that an Independent Panel on Forestry would be appointed to consider the future of forests: Click here to read the full document

 

The Panel made its first of 10 evidence-gathering forest visits to the Forest of Dean on June 13, hosted by HOOF. The Panel's chair, the Rt Rev James Jones, then Bishop of Liverpool, said: “The panel was unanimous that we should make the Forest of Dean our first visit, as we have received so many invitations. We realise its tremendous natural and cultural heritage, and that local people have been active on forest issues for many years."

 

The HOOF submission to the Panel was a comprehensive document setting out our case for public ownership and management: Click here to read the full document

 

2012
In January, Our Forests, a national pressure group with HOOF involvement shadowing the Panel, published its Vision for Forests: Click here to read the full document

 

In July, the Independent Panel on Forestry published its final report, which was publicly welcomed. Broad support was expressed by the Government and campaigners alike: Click here to read the full document

 

HOOF then published its response to the Panel's final report: Click here to read the full document

 

2013
In the summer, the Government published its working proposals, Towards a New Public Forest Estate Management Body, turning many Panel recommendations on their heads: Click here to read the full document

 

HOOF subsequently published a response to these Government proposals: Click here to read the full document

 

2014
In March, HOOF produced a leaflet explaining our concerns about the Government proposals. Click here to read the full document

 

The Independent Panel on Forestry published an open letter criticising the Government for not bringing legislation forward at its last opportunity, the June Queen's Speech: Click here to read the full document

 

In July, HOOF began to raise concerns about the potential implications of the Infrastructure Bill for the disposal of Public Forest Estate land via proposed land transfer schemes to the Homes & Communities Agency: Click here to read the full document

 

On November 5 HOOF held a lantern procession around Mallards Pike to draw attention to the infrastructure debate in the House of Lords happening that day. Due to the amendment put forward by Baroness Jan Royall and the Bishop of St Albans, the Government, in a dramatic climb-down, agreed to heed our call for an exemption to public forests in the Infrastructure Bill. Read the House of Lords debate here: Click here to read the full document

 

There was further debate in the Lords on November 19, when the Government confirmed the entire Public Forest Estate, including so-called 'forest waste', was included in the exemption: Click here to read the full document

 

As the Infrastructure Bill entered the House of Commons in December, Parliament produced its own briefing note on the Public Forest Estate, good on statistics but subjective in its reporting of events: Click here to read the full document