GOVERNMENT plans to sell off English forests have sparked an outcry that appears to have taken ministers by surprise.

The proposal to privatise 258,000 hectares run by the Forestry Commission has clearly struck a nerve deep within the country.

For all the Government’s earnest promises about public access and biodiversity, people simply don’t believe that forests such as Hamsterley, in County Durham, will be in safe hands if they are sold off to private companies.

Yesterday’s announcement that the Government has put on hold initial plans to sell 15 per cent of England’s woodlands is an indication that the strength of public feeling has been felt in Westminster.

The Government is under pressure from the weight of the protests and needs to buy time to reassure the public that the necessary legal protections will be in place before our forests are flogged off.

But yesterday’s announcement should be seen as no more than a delaying tactic. It is not a signal that the Government has changed its longerterm intentions.

The threat is still there and the campaign to save our forests must go on so that ministers are left in no doubt about the country’s mood.

The Northern Echo will continue to play its part in delivering the message that our beautiful forests, and the natural heritage they represent, should not be sold.