Following a recommendation from an independent panel, environment minister Caroline Spelman has announced Britain’s public forests will remain in public hands. At the beginning of last year, the environment minister was forced to apologise in Parliament when a botched attempt to sell of swathes of national forest resulted in widespread criticism and protest.

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However, following the backlash, the future of the nation’s forests remained uncertain; although Spelman retracted plans which could have seen all of the nation’s forests sold into private hands, the sale of 15 per cent of the forests, a total of 40,000 acres, still hung in the balance. In Parliament, repeated attempts by opposition politicians to extract a definitive statement from government ministers on the remaining woodland were shut down.

Campaign group 38 Degrees, which proved instrumental in derailing the government’s first attempt at a sell-off, had expressed concerns that the forest panel included “vested interests from the private timber industry.”

Nevertheless, today the Independent Panel on Forestry returned its final report, in which it revealed the government had "greatly undervalued" the country’s woodlands and failed to appreciate the benefits they provide for its population, wildlife and economy. The authors called for a further 5 per cent of Britain’s land area to be reforested by 2060 and for the Forestry Commission to be made immune from political tinkering, becoming more akin to the BBC.

James Jones, the bishop of Liverpool, chaired the forestry panel. He said, "Our woodlands, managed sustainably, can offer solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing society today. There is untapped potential within England's woodlands to create jobs, to sustain skills and livelihoods, to improve the health and wellbeing of people and to provide better and more connected places for nature. Government investment is now needed to kick start these changes which will repay itself many times over in terms of public benefit."

Responding to the report, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said, “I’d like to thank Bishop Jones and all the members of the panel for their hard work to produce this report on the future direction of forestry policy.  Our forests will stay in public hands. We will not sell the public forest estate.”

Green MEP Caroline Lucas, who had campaigned for legislation to ensure public ownership of the Public Forest, said "The huge success of the cross party campaign against the proposed forest sell off showed that the Government completely underestimated the strength of feeling about public protection of our natural heritage.”

The Public Forest Estate costs an estimated £22 million to maintain, though research by Economics for the Environment Consultancy (EFTEC) found that the 258,000 hectares of the PFE generates around £2bn annually in public goods & services, far more than is delivered by the private or NGO sector.

The Independent Panel on Forestry’s report is available to view online here.

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