Our Reference: 170291

Dear Marcus Hollingshead

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: Land Designated as Wildlife Exclusive

Thank you for your request for information that we received on 9 October about land designated as `wildlife exclusive'.

This request is being dealt with under the Environmental Information Regulations, rather than the Freedom of Information Act, because it relates to `environmental information' as defined in regulation 2.

In your email you asked what percentage of land owned, managed or maintained by the Forestry Commission or associated bodies is designated as `wildlife exclusive'. We are only able to provide you with information relating to the Forestry Commission and cannot provide you with information on any other bodies.

Our policy is to be as open with the information that we hold as possible. However, `wildlife exclusive' as you defined it is not a designation that we use. The Forestry Commission has multiple objectives and therefore very few areas of land are managed for only one objective. There are several designations which may include wildlife as a priority, such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Ancient Woodland. Many open habitats will not have timber production as an objective but are not `wildlife exclusive'.

You defined `wildlife exclusive' as being land with no public access, no human intervention and no livestock access. The closest designation that we use is `minimum intervention' sites which are areas where the Forestry Commission does not intervene except on safety grounds. In England the Forestry Commission has a total of 13,011 ha of minimum intervention sites, Forestry Commission Scotland has 22,457 ha and Forestry Commission Wales has 2,415 ha.

However, the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CRoW) made provision for public access to the countryside in England and Wales. It also created a new power of dedication which can be applied to any land and gives the public right of access to the dedicated land. The Forestry Commission decided that, wherever possible, the public forest estate in England and Wales is dedicated, giving right of access over that land in perpetuity. CRoW does not apply in Scotland. In England some areas in the New Forest are subject to extensive grazing rights. The `minimum intervention' sites include both the land dedicated under CRoW and the areas subject to grazing in the New Forest. If these areas are excluded from the totals above, FC England has a total of 4,019 ha, Scotland has 22,457 ha and Forestry Commission Wales has 429 ha. The total for the Forestry Commission as a whole is 26,905 ha.

In providing these figures we are answering the question you have asked. However it is incorrect to assume that wildlife will only thrive in unmanaged areas, and some of the sites managed by the Forestry Commission that have the greatest biodiversity are not included in the figures above. These include pasture woodland in the New Forest and Savernake and managed ancient woodland in Sherwood. Heavily managed Corsican pine plantations in East Anglia are some of the best sites for birds such as the nightjar.

You also asked what programmes are in place to increase land designated as `wildlife exclusive'. This information is published in our Corporate Plans which are available on the Forestry Commission website at: http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-5e4g6a.

We hope that we have been able to provide all the information you expected and as promptly as possible. If you think this is not the case please let me know as soon as possible.

Please note that the supply of this information does not provide an automatic right to re-use the documents in a way that would infringe copyright or intellectual property rights, for example, by making multiple copies, publishing and issuing copies to the public. If you do wish to reuse information supplied please contact me.

Should you wish to complain about the way your request has been handled please contact:

Paul Hill-Tout
Director England

Forestry Commission

Great Eastern House

Tenison Road

Cambridge

CB1 2DU

Tel: 01223 314 546

Fax: 01223 460 699

E-mail: [email address]

Complaints regarding non-compliance with the open access legislation obligations should initially be made to the Forestry Commission itself. We aim to resolve any complaints with you directly. However, should the matter fail to be resolved, you may make an appeal to the Information Commissioner's Office at:

FOI Compliance Team (complaints)

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 01625 545 700

Fax: 01625 524 510

E-mail: mail.ico.gov.uk

If I can be of any further assistance please contact me using the address details at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely

Dr Karen Simpson

Secretariat

30 October 2008