Woody Guthrie and the Forest of Dean

Watching the brilliant Justin Townes Earle at St Bonaventures this weekend reminded me of the great Woody Guthrie and his anthem..

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California to the New York Island

From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters

This land was made for you and me.

Anyone who has been hiking with me knows that I am still feeling sore about the enclosures of the 18th and 19th centuries and no phrase is more guaranteed to get my blood boiling than the ‘permitted footpath’, now I’m afraid it is happening again.

The coalition government and the local LibDem council here in Bristol have both started to use ‘these difficult times’ to start selling off the open spaces and forest that we own for a quick profit.

Apart from this being a particularly stupid time to start selling of assets, when prices are so low, the idea that this is a sustainable way forward to manage our finances to me seems very short sighted. The only ones to benefit from this will be the property developers.

This land is your land, this land is my land,

From the coast of Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands,

From the sacred forests to the holy islands.

This land was made for you and me.

(A Billy Bragg version)

We’ve just been through a farcical consultation by the council over the sell off of green spaces in the city, despite many protests and the consultation being widely seen as fundamentally flawed the council have decided to sell off 48 of the original proposed 64 spaces with 9 being deferred.

The consultation itself was brought into question with reports of council officers only briefly visiting spaces and misrepresenting the number of people using them. Local residents couldn’t see for sure as the council delayed a Freedom of Information question a full 7 weeks past the date it was statutorily obliged to give the information, and of course past the date of consultation – see Stockwood Petes blog for info.

As I went walking I saw a sign there

And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”

But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,

That side was made for you and me.

On a larger scale the coalition government is selling up to 150,000 hectares of forest and woodland as part of their ‘Big Society’ plans, moving ownership from the government in the form of the Foresty Commission to private hands.

Despite stating in a letter to all MPs that ‘Full measures will remain in place to preserve the public  benefits of woods and forests under any new ownership arrangements.’ it is unclear why private businesses would buy this land if there was not an opportunity to make a profit. If there is profit in running them as they are, then why don’t the government keep them and make a profit? If changes are to be made to the land to make a profit, what will they be and will our free and open access be assured?

This must be stopped, once sold we won’t be able to get this land back, below are some links that may help:

Early day motion to ensure our forests are not privatised further – get your MP to sign it

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=42211&SESSION=905

Hands off our forest – Forest of Dean
http://www.handsoffourforest.org/

Petition – 38 Degrees – Please Sign
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/save-our-forests#petition

Petition – The Forester- Please Sign
http://www.theforester.co.uk/saveourforest.cfm?id=1&commentsent=1&bid=0