Save our forest (rallies)
The interests of motorsport look set to be ignored in the government's forthcoming Forestry Review Panel, leaving the future of off-road motorsport in the UK, particularly stage rallying, in real danger.
With the only representative of leisure users in the panel being the Rambler's Association, The UK's motorsport governing body, the MSA, fears that "the interests of motor sport will not be considered in the panel's final report".
The disastrous impact of this," says the MSA, "would be to risk motor sport being excluded from both the public forest estate and any of the forests transferred into private ownership."
Which sounds pretty worrying to us. But we can all help. The government is currently consulting to find out what the forests mean to the general public, and the MSA is urging that "as many people as possible emphasise the importance to motor sport of continued access to the public forest estate".
So if you want your voice - and the voice of the motorsport enthusiast - to be heard, shout now and shout quickly, because the deadline for submissions is Sunday, 31st July.
You can peruse the list of questions below, and submit feedback to the consultation by answering as many of the questions as you wish, and e-mailing them, along with your name, to forestrypanel@defra.gsi.gov.uk.
To help you out, the MSA has also produced
a sample response paper
, but is keen to point out that responses should be as individual as possible, as they reckon this will have more of an impact that an obviously orchestrated campaign. So what are you waiting for? Get e-mailing!
Survey questions:
Q1 - What do forests and woods mean to you?
Q2 - What is your vision for the future of England's forests and woods?
Q3 - What do you feel to be the benefits of forests and woods to:
a) you personally;
b) society as a whole;
c) the natural environment; and
d) the economy?
Q4 - We would like to hear about your suggestions of practical solutions and good practice which can be replicated more widely.
Q5 - What do you see as the priorities and challenges for policy about England's forests and woods?
A massive thanks to Nick Williams (NWVT) for tipping us the wink on this one
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