Oral Answers to Questions

Barry Sheerman Excerpts
Thursday 3rd February 2011

(13 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Caroline Spelman Portrait Mrs Spelman
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Yes, absolutely.

Barry Sheerman Portrait Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)
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I would be very disappointed, and so would my constituents, if the forests and woodland question was diverted into a question of access. It is a question not of access, but of ownership. Deep in the DNA of English people is that for years and years they have been fed up because they have been told, “You can come, by our grace and favour, and walk on our land, but you can’t own it.”

Caroline Spelman Portrait Mrs Spelman
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It is a question of both ownership and access. As I explained to the House yesterday, when the hon. Gentleman’s party was in government, it also looked at both ownership and access.