Love your National Park woods

It is clear that the British public are in love with their forests. This comes as no surprise to the Campaign for National Parks! A whopping one-third of the public forest estate (nearly 86,000 hectares) lies within National Parks – the nation’s most beautiful and inspiring landscapes. These forests provide a range of hugely important benefits for the millions of people who visit and live in these spectacular places – from the Lake District to the North York Moors, from the New Forest to Northumberland.

The Government must not shirk its responsibilities towards the forests or the people who use and enjoy them, whether for leisure or livelihood. If any sale or lease of the public forest estate is to go ahead in National Parks, measures must be in place to ensure that: 

• Existing benefits for people are secured for the long term (including rights of access and enhanced access for cyclists and horse-riders; restoration and management for wildlife, the historic environment and landscape);
• The Forestry Commission’s legal responsibility to respect National Park purposes is not weakened and that any new owner/manager is required to sign up to the same responsibility;
• The future potential of the estate is fully realised, for example, the forest’s role in improving water quality, reducing flood risk, capturing carbon from the atmosphere and contributing to wildlife networks;
• The ‘economies of scale’ and best practice of the public forest estate are captured;
• ‘Commercialisation’ of forests, to raise revenue, does not damage their special qualities;
• Sufficient public funding and support is available for all future owners to secure these benefits.

We will be responding to the Government’s consultation (by 21st April, 2011) on the future ownership, management and funding of this land.

We have significant concerns that the consultation’s proposals, as they currently stand, will not meet these key tests. We will gather evidence and views from those affected across National Parks over the coming weeks to inform our response to the consultation.

Find out how much of the Forestry Commission estate is within the National Parks.

For press inquiries please contact Christine Reid, Senior Policy Officer, 07970 636920

For examples of potential local impacts, please contact Jack Ellerby, at Friends of the Lake District, 01539 720788 or Peter Roberts, at the New Forest Association, 01725 514480