The Rt. Hon. Dan Rogerson MP
Parliament Under Secretary of State for
Forestry et al,
Department for Environment, Food &
Rural Affairs
Nobel House, 17 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR

Date: 22 May 2014

Dear Sir

In March I wrote to you Minster calling for urgent action to help save Britain’s ancient woodlands.

Since plans to sell off public forests were abandoned in 2011, I am pleased to say that this Government has worked with local communities, woodland users and other stakeholders like the Woodland Trust to make sure the estate is properly valued and sustainable for the future.

Recommendations were made by an Independent Panel on Forestry for a new management structure to care for the estate in 2012. These were agreed by the Government in 2013 when the Secretary of State for the Environment, Owen Paterson, promised to introduce the management structure in a new Forestry Bill. This has the support of all of the major political parties and many forestry stakeholders – so why hasn’t it yet happened?

Soon we will see the last Queen’s Speech in the current parliament. This announces legislative plans for the coming year.

On behalf of the Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council, I would urge you to press the Secretary of State to ensure that the Government takes this final opportunity to introduce a Forestry Bill.

I look forward to hearing back from you.

Yours faithfully
Howard Sykes