LONDON, (Reuters) – The government last week scrapped its controversial plans to sell the bulk of England’s publicly owned forests after intense public opposition.
“I am sorry, we got this one wrong. But we have listened to peoples’ concerns,” farming and environment minister Caroline Spelman told parliament, to jeers from opponents.
A consultation into the proposed sale of large swathes of historic woodland was met with hostility by countryside and environment groups who feared a sale would damage nature and restrict public access.
The Forestry Commission currently owns 258,000 hectares of land — about 18 percent of total English woodland — and the government had
