According to Damien Green on Thursday night - The forestry commision "owns" on our behalf 18% of the forests in the country, the subject currently under discussion is whether it would be worthwhile allowing private companies to "own" some of this 18% as an alternative to see if they could be managed more effectively. So something more than 82% of forests wont be affected.
Labour complained that the result would be "pay as you park" type car parks etc at forest sites, and indeed locked gates to stop people from accessing them.
They were reminded that they had already put some forests into private hands and allowed similar parking arrangements, and residents near one such area had complained that the new "owners" had installed gates and locked them to prevent access. He said that this type of management would not be allowed if the govt. decided to go ahead with such a scheme.
So - Labour are hypocrites.
Facts dont make good headlines.
The Tories may be lying, time will tell. They have lied about plenty of other things since the election.
