Letter: Mystery of woodlands sell-off
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.FOLLOWING the Government's secretive Forestry Review, Ian Lang, the Scottish Secretary, stated: 'Our conclusion is that, at this stage of their development, the Forestry Commission woodlands should remain in the public sector.' Not surprisingly, 'Forestry sale ruled out' was a typical media report.
But later on Mr Lang contradicted this statement by saying '. . . the Government will take a number of measures . . . to protect existing public access when the Commission sells forests as part of its disposal programme.'
On 12 April, in a written answer to Margaret Ewing, the Government named 100 of our public woodlands which are currently for sale. Perhaps Mr Lang would explain to us how our public woodlands can 'remain in the public sector' if they are sold off.
Philip Greig
Swindon, Wiltshire
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments