Is Forest of Dean’s Unesco biosphere bid in peril?
An ambitious bid for the Forest of Dean to achieve international recognition as a Unesco biosphere reserve has been paused, raising fears the project is in jeopardy.
There are fears the Forest of Dean’s bid to become a Unesco biosphere reserve is now in peril after civic chiefs voted for six months of further consultation.
Green Party councillors fear the area could lose out on achieving the international recognition as the Forest of Dean District Council will miss this year’s September deadline.
The council has been working on applying for the status which would recognise the ancient woodland and place it in the same league as places such as Yellowstone or Florida’s Everglades in the USA and the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Such status helps protect landscapes and wildlife while boosting eco-tourism, sustainable agriculture and green business while increasing the region’s appeal internationally, according to its supporters.
However, there are serious concerns over the level of consultation with the public on the project which the district council has been working on since 2019.
Dozens of residents gathered in Coleford on Thursday (May 21) ahead of a council meeting to express their concerns.
Annie Gwilliam, a local resident, said she feared its status could turn the area into a theme park.
“With outsiders coming in, the young Foresters won’t be taking an interest in keeping the heritage alive, which is so important,” she said.
While Jaz White, junior secretary of the Commoners’ Association, said she believed there has not been enough consultation.
“They’ve not been transparent and they’ve not talked to locals,” she said.
“We weren’t told and we’ve not been informed properly about it and there are lots of people who feel the same.”
And Reform UK Councillor Piers Camp, who represents Drybrook and Lydbrook at Shire Hall, said every parish council meeting he has been to and resident he has spoken to has shown no support for the Unesco biosphere or they don’t know what it is.
“That’s the main issue,” he said. “It’s being foisted upon the Forest.”
Tina Carrott, who lives near Cinderford, said her and husband did not know anything about it until March when they got a leaflet through the post.
“There seems to be a lack of communication, that’s what it comes down to,” she said.
“We are all a bit suspicious. Area of outstanding natural beauty is what we deserve, and what we want, not blimming Unesco biosphere.”
During the meeting, Progressive Independent Councillor Bernie O’Neill (Ruspidge), who proposed a six month pause for further consultation, felt the bid was being “rushed through without doing the ground work properly”
He said he supported the principle of exploring a biosphere status but this “does not mean signing a blank cheque for a flawed process”.
“What we’ve seen since that unanimous vote is not careful engagement, it’s a push to get this over the line.
“There has been a lack of engagement and local people are not objecting because they are unreasonable.
“They are objecting because they have not been properly consulted or informed.”
He went on to say that “misinformation has filled the vacuum left by poor communication”.
Green Party councillor Chris McFarling (St Briavels), who has been leading the project, said he challenged the premise that the council had not consulted.
He said engagement has been extensive and leaflets have been delivered to every household in the district and consultation events have been held at multiple locations with online engagement throughout.
“The biosphere team has attended parish council meetings, community group meetings and stakeholder sessions over a sustained period of time,” he said.
He put forward an amendment to consult over the next four months, not six in order to meet the September deadline. And that prior to a formal submission to Unesco, all councillors would be given a vote on the proposal.
The biosphere status is the only international status in the world that exists specifically to recognise the landscapes where people and the land work together sustainably, Cllr McFarlign said.
“Today we are hearing concerns particularly around consultation and those concerns deserve to be taken seriously,” he said.
And he explained that biosphere status would not lead to restrictions on the Forest of Dean’s ancient rights such as the freemining and the tradition of free roaming sheep.
“It does not take away rights or impose new powers,” he said. “It recognises places that already work and helps them thrive.
“That brings real benefits, it strengthens our ability to attract investment and funding.
“It supports local jobs and businesses from tourism to landbased industries to emerging green sectors.
“It raises the profile of the Forest of Dean bringing recognition that opens doors nationally and internationally.
“Beyond economics, there is something even more important. What future are we creating for the next generation?
“Do we want young people growing up here to see a place full of opportunity, pride and purpose or a place that hesitated and missed its moment?”
But Councillor Jamie Elsmore (Progressive Independent, Berry Hill) said it was thanks to people like Warren James, who led a massive uprising in 1831 to defend the Dean’s ancient rights.
“The freedoms that our commoners and freeminers have today is down to people like Warren James who fought for freedoms of the Forest,” he said.
“Those same groups believe that they have not been consulted.”
Cllr McFarling said they have engaged with the freeminers and commoners but agreed that they must do more.
He reiterated the point that biosphere status would not affect any of the ancient rights of the Forest of Dean.
While former council leader Tim Gwilliam (Progressive Independents, Berry Hill) said the Forest of Dean was already a very special place.
He said while the intent may be rooted in environmental stewardship, how the council had gone about the biosphere application was “alienating the very soul of our community”.
But Green Party Councillor Sid Phelps (Lydbrook) said if their amendment was not passed it would “effectively kill it”,
“I don’t want to see the biosphere application be killed,” he said.
He later said the original motion “is just a way to put a bullet in the head of the whole project” because asking for a six months delay for consultation would see the council failing to make the application in time.
And fellow Green Councillor Jackie Dale (Pillowell) said the debate sounded like a competition about “who’s the most Forest”.
“I don’t want to bleat about who I am, but I am a Forester, and I’ve also had a grandfather down the mines who lost a leg down the coal mines of the Forest of Dean,” she said.
“I’m proud to be a Forester and I’m proud to support the biosphere and Chris McFarling’s amendment.
“That’s because I am representing all the other residents that I’ve spoken to. And yes, I do go out and speak to residents and I do note the original consultation where we had lots of people.
“90 per cent of respondents, I believe, supported the biosphere application,” he said. “Not only that, if we didn’t care about our culture and our heritage.
“I wouldn’t have fought tooth over nail to get an arts culture and heritage officer who has been busy already engaging with that sector.”
Cllr O’Neill said the Green administration was “ploughing ahead without consulting”. He called councillors to back his motion and stick to the six month consultation.
“It will take us beyond September but I’m sorry, that’s a fact. If it’s six months, it’s six months. The longer we’ve got to allow consultation proper the much better it would be.”
However, there was a tie in the vote on this amendment and chair Di Martin (L, Cinderford East) used her casting vote to break the deadlock.
A subsequent vote to delay the project for six months more of consultation was successful.
Cllr McFarling said the Forest of Dean would lose “something real” and the only governance structure on the table designed around the district.
“Local government reorganisation is coming, this council will cease to exist,” he said.
“The Forest of Dean as a district authority will be absorbed into a unitary council covering a much larger geography.
“Every member in this room knows that. The question is whether the Forest of Dean enters that transition with its own community-led governance structure already in place or whether it goes into a new unitary authority with nothing.
“No formal identity, no standing partnership, no mechanism for local voice and hopes for the best.
“We are sending a signal, we are the community that was offered international recognition for the quality of its landscape, its economy, the relationship between its people and their environment and turned it down.”
The half-empty public gallery erupted with cheer and applause as the motion to pause for six months for further consultation succeeded by 19 votes in favour to 17 against.
By Carmelo Garcia, local democracy reporter for Gloucestershire. carmelo.garcia@reachplc.com
*The Raikes Journal is the only independent news outlet in Gloucestershire approved to use the copy of the BBC local government reporting service. Why? Only independent, credible journalistically-led platforms that meet the BBC’s high standards win that permission.