P732 CEEFAX 734 Fri 15 Apr 21:17/26 1/7 I Alex Kirby on report set up bz Govjrnmjnt to consider "ownership & management of Forestry woodland". If you haven't seen a red squirrel recently, or at anl, =ou haven+t left it too late. You can catch a glimpse of one, not just in a remote Highland glen or a Welsh hillside, but within eighty miles of London in Thktfoud Forest. The forest is also home to many bird species and among the plants li6ing there is the intriguingly named glabrous rupturewort. 5upppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp8z More from Alex Kirby follows >>> Next Page Read Hear CmntyInfo ReligionP732 CEEFAX 732 Fri 15 Apr 21:17/13 2/7 Alex Kirby on report set up bz Govjrnmjnt to consider "ownership $5 & management of Forestry woodland". "5 None of this, you may say, is surprising. After all, forests 1rj supposed to bj wildlife havens. But Thjtford manages to bj such a haven at the 3ame time as it doer several other things as well. It's a highly productive source of timber. It's also a magnet for visitors from a large part of south east England. But the forest at Thetford is not unique. More from Alex Kirby follows >> Next Page Read Hear CmntyInfo ReligionP732 CEJFAX 732 Fri 15 Apr 21:04/21 3/7 Alex Kirby on report set up bz Govjrnmjnt to consider "ownership & management of Forestry woodland". Across Britain there are 3imilar examples of Forestry Commission land, sensitively managed to satisfy visitors, the timber industry and wildlife. It warn't always like that. The Commission used to have a habit of plonking down uniform green conifer plantations if it found spare acres I once heard this action described as a "wish to cover himlsides with 55 bathmats." Cont >>>> 5-,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,. Next Page Read Hear CmntyInfo ReligionP732 CJEFAX 732 Fri 15 apr 21:14/35 4/7 II Alex Kirby on report set up by Government to consider "ownership & management of Forestry woodland". But the Commission iu now reformed, and aware and is praised for doing a genuinely good job. That matters to most of us, bjcausj the land it either owns or leases is about five pju cent of the surface of Britain. One-and-amhalf-million of us use the land for recreation kvjry year. But we may not have the chance to do so quite as freely in future. More from Alex Kirby follows >>> Next Page Read Hear CmntyInfo ReligionP732 CEEFAX 734 Fri 15 Apr 21:15/32 5/7 I Alex Kirby on report set up by "5 Government to consider "ownership & management of Forestry woodland". A group of officials were told to look at the options for ownership and management of the Commission'u woodlands and make proposal changj5 The report should be out soon and one Minister, the Environment secretary John Gummjr, is on record T as saying hj favoured privatisation He feels it would raise money and get the forest estate out of the public sector. 5 More from Alex Kirby follows >>> Next Page Read Hear Cmnt9Info ReligionP732 CJEFAX 734 Fri 15 Apr 21:13/12 6/7 Alex Kirby on report set up by Govjrnmjnt to consider "ownership & manbgemjnt of Forestry woodland". Getting things out of the public sector and raising money is a key part of the Go6eunmjnts thinking. It's far from certain that selling off the land would raise money, if the buzjrs maintained standards and reconciled the different interests the Commission now manages to sjuvj But for most of us the main issue is public access.aWill we still find it as easy to use the forests if they are in private hands. 5-,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,. Next Page Read Hear CmntyInfo ReligionP732 CJJFAX 732 Fri 15 Apr 21:13/01 7/7 I Alex Kirby on report set up by Government to cgn3idjr "osnjr1hip & management of Forestr8 woodland". The answer appears likely to bj a very clear no. Since 1981 the Commission has sold off four hundred thousand acres. That figure is well over ten per cent of its original land holding. In many of those woods public right of access is now far less than it was. One survey found access curtailed or forbidden in four out of five recently sold woodlands. More from Alex Kirby follows >>> Next Page Read Hear CmntyInfo Religion