News Shorts & Other Busyness

Britain’s Forests To Be Privatised?

Squall 5, Oct/Nov 1993, pg. 26.

In early September, The Ramblers’ Association called on its 93,000 members to take part in protest walks against the immanent privatisation of the Forestry Commission.

Recent research by the Association indicates that only 15% of private woodland owners would be willing to allow public access to their woods in the same way that the Forestry Commission does now.

Alan Mattingly, Director of the Ramblers’ Association, said at a rally in the Forest of Dean that privatisation would lead to a huge loss of public access and “against that background, it would be complete folly for the Government to transfer ownership of Britain’s public forests to the private sector.”