Stop digging

If only David Cameron and Caroline Spelman had abided by the former chancellor’s maxim before they embarked upon their botched plan to sell off 15 per cent of England’s publicly-owned forests.

That the Government did not think, at the outset, to put in adequate safeguards to maintain public access to these cherished woods, evoked in William Blake’s Jerusalem, is indicative of the coalition’s failure to think through the consequences of its decisions.

This is a humiliation for the Environment Secretary as she beats a retreat. Frankly, she had no alternative after it emerged that 3,000 conservation and natural beauty sites in Yorkshire alone could be jeopardised by her plan.

Her challenge now is to devise a plan that achieves three objectives. It must protect access, recognise that the countryside is one of England’s most important assets and pass the Healey test on “holes”.