FOREST campaigners have welcomed assurances that the Dean and other public forests would be exempt from a new law that would allow the sell-off of public land but they insist the exclusion should be in any new Act.

Jan Royall – Baroness Royall of Blaisdon – has tabled an amendment to the Infrastructure Bill which is currently going through the House of Lords.

HOOF – Hands Off Our Forests – is concerned that if the Bill becomes law, public land could be sold off by the Homes and Communities Agency without local scrutiny.

A HOOF spokesman said: "The Minister for Transport, Baroness Kramer, who is taking the Bill through the House, gave an assurance that the public forest estate would not be affected by any transfer proposals.

"But while it might not be this government's intention not to dispose of forest land, an exemption is required in the Bill to ensure this cannot happen in future."

HOOF chairman Rich Daniels and treasurer Ian Standing met Forest MP Mark Harper and expressed their alarm over the Infrastructure Bill which they say "enables the sell-off of any public land across the country."

The campaign group has called on Mr Harper to commit to supporting an exemption for public forests from the provisions of the Bill should it become law.