Response to Independent Forestry Panel consultation Name: Yeovil Car Club Address: c/o R B L OwenChairmanBlossom HillStockwood RoadChetnole SherborneDorsetDT9 6PJ Email: rowen13@uwclub.net  

Question 1 – What do forests and woods mean to Yeovil Car Club?	Trained Yeovil Car Club Radio Section volunteers provide communication facilities at motor rally stage events, including those in forests, which are designed to help ensure safe and responsible use of the routes taken by the competitors.   The national forest estate currently provides venues for this activity in which a number of its members participate and to which they give significant amount of their time in both training and participation.
Question 2 – What is your vision for the future of England’s forests and woods?	While this response reflects the view of the Motor Sports Association, it has been separately considered from the point of view of an individual organisation participating in motor sport   Yeovil Car Club supports the MSA view that we must continue to see all responsible users co-exist and utilise the forests – as they do now   Yeovil Car Club supports the MSA view that ALL existing activities undertaken with the Forestry Commission should be protected under any future change of Forestry Commission responsibilities.   Minority activities, such as motor sport, should not be excluded or limited by restrictions caused either by  an absolute reduction in the public forest estate or by new restrictions imposed by new bodies, whether public or private, which might take responsibility for parts of the forest estate,
Question 3 – What do you feel to be the benefits of forests and woods to:
a)to Yeovil Car Club ;	The forests provide a valuable national resource that allows properly organised and regulated motor sport events to take place. Motor sport events are responsibly organised in collaboration with the Forestry Commission.   All motor sport events take great care to avoid particular times of year that would adversely affect the natural habitat within the forests, e.g. mating seasons, etc.   Yeovil Car Club would wish there to be no new restrictions on their current responsible pursuit of their interests in motor sport
b) society as a whole;	The preservation of a valuable natural resource for all leisure activities in a small heavily populated country where such resource is necessarily limited. Any reduction in the extent of those resources would increase the potential conflicts among the current users of the resource as they would be confined within small areas.
c) the natural environment; and	This question is better answered by those more qualified to comment. However, Yeovil Car Club would simply seek goodwill between all users of the environment to respect one another’s interests without exclusion
d) the economy?	Yeovil Car Club is not qualified to answer this question broadly but would make the following points with regard to its own interest.  Restricting access to these forests for motor sport events would do great damage to a sport at which Britain excels internationally with significant benefits to the economy. Restriction would undermine the associated motor sport industry that provides 40,000 jobs, 4,500 businesses and an estimated £4.5bn to the UK economy.
Question 4 – We would like to hear about your suggestions of practical solutions and good practice which can be replicated more widely.	Motor sport currently operates in association with the Forestry Commission to ensure that all legitimate motor sport events are properly organised, fully insured and undertaken with absolute consideration to other forest users. A Concordat already exists between the Motor Sports Association and the Forestry Commission which sets out, at a national level, a common understanding of best practice to minimise the impact of these activities on the surrounding environment. It is essential that, in any devolution of the responsibilities of the Forestry Commission to a new body assuming control of any area in which motor sport events are currently undertaken by agreement with the Forestry Commission, the devolution should be made subject to acceptance by of the existing consents and terms of consent for such area. A Master Agreement details the charges paid by motor sport events for the use of the forests. While it would be preferable for this central negotiation arrangement to continue, preventing the time-consuming need for smaller negotiations to take place around the country, it is essential that if the Forestry Commission’s responsibilities were to be divided that the essence of that central negotiation which ensures a level playing field be preserved.
Question 5 – What do you see as the priorities and challenges for policy about England’s forests and woods?	Ensuring that all existing users can continue to enjoy their use of the public forest estate Ensuring that the public forest estate does not contract from its current extent thus limiting the areas where all of the current leisure uses can be exercised Recognising that there will be conflicting aims and objectives of the various groups of existing leisure users and the use of the estate to produce nationally valuable timber products Working to maintain a balance between all such users, both for business and leisure purposes but not at the expense of any existing users especially where these users have traditionally behaved with responsibility in controlling their activities so as to meet their social responsibilities.

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