Please, please, please - take note!!

Oh Granny A what can we do to protest? I walk public right of ways it's the best way to see the most wonderful views.

Conservative governments are committed to the privatisation of public sector - end of story!

Does this apply to Wales?

Yes Annie. It will give power to Ministers in England and Wales.

This sounds like a campaign for 38 Degrees which has had some success with other campaigns. I suggest that, for a start, we contact our MPs to make them aware of what is going on or they well all sleepwalk through the passing of this iniquitous piece of legislation.

38 Degrees have got a petition going

But it looks like the second reading was two days ago.

another article about it

I live surrounded by common land. I could not bear to see it go.

Sounds like the Lords will try to get it amended in the final stage.

Well done Jings 38 degrees seem to be gaining momentum in their various campaigns, so here' hoping!

We have so many fields and playing areas surrounding local schools here on The Wirral & lots of fabulous woodland walks it would be unthinkable if we lost any of it,I have signed the 38 degrees petition needing another couple of thousand to reach the 25K target,lets all tweet/facebook to our friends and try and up the figure as soon as possible.

I wish you well with the fight against this - try contacting the media and get it highlighted as many will not be aware this is happening. See your local councillors and ask them what is planned for your area and what they propose to do to protect it.

To be honest, with all the calls for more housing to house the incoming population, reclaiming some land was going to be inevitable but there does need to be some method involved and it should remain the property of local councils and not private developers (who are already sitting on swathes of undeveloped land to keep prices up).

We are at the moment fighting to keep our local Greenway which surrounds our First Garden City. The local authority are planning to build on this land. It is unthinkable, especially because it goes right against the principle of Garden City Development.

Usually I get all the 38 Degrees emails, but not this one. I wonder why. I have, belatedly, signed the petition.

Thank you Agus, so we can expect buildings erected in our national parks and as for the Pembrokeshire Coastal footpath , I live in a national park and dread to think what could be built and where

I've signed and shared on Fb and Twitter.

I didn't get that petition either, I wonder why?

Quote from George Monbiot in today's press:
The news site Schnews reveals that during the great battle over the coalition's attempt to sell off the public forest estate, which resulted in the government's first major U-turn, one of the campaigners received an anonymous call from a civil servant. "The forests are just the start," he warned. "They are absolutely determined to sell every scrap of public land – beaches, parks, the lot."Is that what this is? I don't know. During the Lords debate, Baroness Kramer insisted that this measure applies only to "surplus land" and "applies only to private rights and not to those that are public". Just one problem: there are no such safeguards in the bill. The word "surplus" does not occur anywhere, and the bill creates specific powers "to extinguish public rights of way". Yes, public – not private. Had Kramer read the bill she moved? Or was she making it up as she went along? In either case, until this is either clarified or struck out, the forests for which we fought so hard and, perhaps, all other state-owned land could be at risk.

There's a Woodland Trust campaign about protecting ancient woodlands. The government seems to think it's okay for builders to cut down ancient woodland providing they offset it with planting new trees. Eh?

grannyactivist Thank you for raising this issue. I too read the George Monbiot article. What is proposed is very worrying. It will be interesting to see if there is full media coverage and discussion of these proposals.

I signed it and shared, too. Worrying to think they could just dispense with woodlands and the habitats of so many animals, birds and insects could be destroyed.

I've signed and shared. But I don't know if I was sent the petition - there's been so many lately I've deleted before reading.

So now we know:
Yesterday Baroness Jan Royall asked (in the House of Lord's) that there be a condition in the the Infrastructure Bill that public forests cannot be sold off for development. She said, "I wish to speak to Amendment 89 (which calls for the exemption of the Public Forest Estate from sale or 'transfer' proposals via the Homes & Communities Agency )".
The Government (represented by Baroness Kramer) said the Government would "resist" Jan's amendment: "Surplus land can and already does transfer to the Homes and Communities Agency, but the process is more bureaucratic than is necessary. This clause is simply about increasing the rate of delivery by accelerating internal government procedures. The proposed amendments would actually slow down the process by adding further bureaucracy. For that reason, we would resist this amendment because our goal is to increase efficiency in this process, not to slow it down further."
Without this amendment there is NO PROTECTION for our forests. This legislation will enable exactly what the Public Bodies bill proposed back in 2010 and which so many of us vehemently objected to.
I wouldn't be surprised if people are weary of petitions like this, but that's what the Government is banking on I fear. Please sign and share as widely as you can if you value the Public Forest Estate - we have only until October to demonstrate our commitment to keeping our forests public and out of the hands of developers. https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/amend-the-infrastructure-bill-to-exclude-forests-and-limit-land-sales-to-surplus-land?bucket&source=facebook-share-button&time=1404482980

Thank you grannyactivist. I've signed it.

I don't understand why they say that granting an exemption to all land designated as Public Forest Estate would slow down the transfer of surplus land. Surely Public Forest Estate was exempt, no application could be made anyway?

It's absolutely typical isn't it that the all the royal estates are protected.

I live in a part of east London that borders Epping Forest. It is a wonderful resource, with miles and miles of heath and forestland. Presumably if this bill goes through, this too would be at risk.