Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether there are any plans in place for the Public Forest Estate land at the Cinderford Northern Quarter site in the National Heritage Forest of Dean will to be transferred to any other party for development.

The Government stands by its commitment, set out in the 2013 Forestry and Woodlands Policy Statement and on subsequent occasions, that the public forest estate will remain in public hands. However, while this commitment is intended to secure the future of the public forest estate as a whole, in line with the recommendations of the Independent Panel on Forestry, it was never intended to preclude all land transactions on the estate.

The Government is aware of the decision of the Forest of Dean District Council planning committee on the matter and the continuing work in hand. A final decision on the proposed land exchange involving land on the public forest estate and land owned by the Council will be taken later in the year in the light of all the information then available.