Make Sherwood Forest a 'Heritage Forest'

I welcome the Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman's admission that the government had "got this one wrong" but we must not take our eye of the ball. Safeguarding the 'cultural heritage and archaeology' contained within our local woodlands will still need to be part of any future discussions about forestry management.
Whilst access and biodiversity have been recognised as issues, the archaeology and cultural heritage of our forests seem to have been marginalised.

The debate on the Forestry Commission management of our ancient forests and woodland will still go on but the position in England is that we have possibly the highest concentration in the world of unresearched or under researched historic woodland sites.

Here in Nottinghamshire we have been actively involved with the Forestry Commission for a number of years working on the archaeology contained within Sherwood Forest. As a royal hunting forest Sherwood Forest was 20 miles long and ten miles wide. This geographic area was and is being considered as a regional park.

All Forestry Commission owned and managed woodlands in the Nottinghamshire area are therefore vital to a cohesive forestry facility. This forestry underpins the tourist industry of the area and the overall global appeal of Nottinghamshire. We must be vigilant and ensure the whole of the Sherwood Forest area becomes a designated 'Heritage Forest'.