The chief executive of the National Trust has condemned the government’s proposals to transfer ownership of the nation’s forests from the Forestry Commission to the private sector, charitable trusts or local communities.

Ministers have launched a ten-week consultation on the future of Forestry Commission lands in England.

Critics have said the plans amount to selling off something that the public already owns.

Fiona Reynolds told yesterday’s Green Alliance conference on the environmental impact of the Big Society that the government’s proposals don’t satisfy the three tests that she feels are critical to making the Big Society succeed: a clear government strategy; a plan for collaborative partnerships, and engaging and inspiring the public.

What is missing from the forestry proposal, she said, is a clear message from the government about its own intentions.

She said she had spent several hours reading Twitter feeds, Facebook pages and email responses to the National Trust’s public consultation on the plans, and had concluded that “the government can’t just walk away from this”.

“The primary message is don’t just abandon us, you can’t just hand it over to Big Society and hope for the best.”

A local perspective 

Sussex Wildlife Trust chief executive Tony Whitbread expressed his distaste at the proposals in a blog entitled Forestry Commission sell-off 1.

He raised an ethical question for charities: "Should we be giving money to government in order to purchase public woods in order to keep them as public wood?" he asked, adding, "I wonder whether the Charity Commission would consider that a good use of charitable funds."

Whitbread further commented that if charities were to take over the forests they would still rely on Forestry Commission management grants, meaning the government is "unlikely to make much (if any) money from the process".