Forestry Panel Report

After the public outcry last year at the proposed Forestry Commission break-up and sell off, the 72 page Independent Panel Report was published today.
The 'Save Our Woods Campaign' has also published a response...

On Twitter and in the media, at least one NGO The Woodlands Trust, has been quick to comment at the report publication.
It is a shame that NGOs were reluctant to comment at the proposed forest estate sell-off until the public disquiet had reached a noticeable critical mass.
Some have speculated a general silence at the time on the issue by major conservation organisations was because of an interest in carve-up opportunities.

It will be early 2013 before (if) the Government act on what are at present recommendations in the report.
I have singled out The Woodland Trust above, as I'm seriously considering my membership. Their inertia regarding a stance on the proposed sell-off and more recently their corporate sponsors.
These include Ikea and Forest Holidays.
Controversial revelations suggest Ikea's timber extraction business has compromised swathes of former USSR forest in an unsustainable manner.
Forest Holidays (this years corporate sponsors of the Woodland Trust) have a controversial planning application for holiday homes in Delamere Forest here in Cheshire.

Working full-time in the oil & gas industry, I must consider all this from a pot and black kettle scenario with respect to looking after my own 2 acre plot with conservation leanings... One thing is certain, money doesn't grow on trees, so I understand the need of an organisation for fund-raising above just membership subscriptions. Alternative funding shouldn't compromise principles though.

Another swathe of public estate that changed this week (almost un-noticed in various media) is the former British Waterways which has become the Canal & River Trust.
There have been various proposals to sell off and fragment the canal network since it's nationalisation and commercial / industrial decline.
In recent years it has seen a boom in leisure business and like the Forestry Commission more than broke even in it's entirety. I cynically wonder what will happen to potential development land along Britain's canals and properties which at present endow the canal network in a financial level of sustainability?

Closer to home (or at least the plot), there are proposals for a 1 giga-Watt gas power-station on the Wrexham Industrial Estate.
The first I had heard of it, trying not to be too N.I.M.B.Y.istic, I couldn't help but look if large gas-lines or power-lines were going to plough across my field.
The east side of the Industrial Estate around Ridley Wood / Bowling Bank might end up with some large gas-main excavations.