Please, please, please - take note!!

Like many others I campaigned like mad when the government decided they'd like to sell off our Forestry Commission to their cronies. The new Infrastructure Bill has the potential for enabling just that through this sneaky piece of legislation. Those of us who fought to safeguard the nation's woodlands are concerned that the Infrastructure Bill will renew the threat by the back door. The Government having squandered its final opportunity to introduce legislation to give lasting protection to Forestry Commission woodlands in England has instead championed a Bill that overrides current land protections.

Check out this part of the Bill to see this means that without further legislation the Secretary of State can hand over any amount of public land to the HCA (allotments, local parks, woodland, common land, playing fields, village greens....yes, really) who can then dispose of it to developers. There will be no need to go through local authority planning processes – the Sec of State can give approval without any local politicians or planners’ involvement, simply by consulting a panel of just two people.
As for public rights of way, the proposed law allows any of them to be extinguished. Any existing laws that protects land and prevents it being built on, appear to be overriden by one simple enabling clause.

Oops - sorry. In the interests of openness and transparency I should point out that there are one or two notable exceptions to this land-grab free for all:
(6) This section and section 53B bind the Crown, but do not have effect in
relation to property, rights or liabilities belonging to—
(a) Her Majesty in right of the Crown,
(b) Her Majesty in right of Her private estates,
(c) Her Majesty in right of the Duchy of Lancaster, or
(d) the Duchy of Cornwall