Last month, Graham Bathe one of our Trustees met with a number of Forest of Dean Commoners. Below he explains some of the issus they face.
Background and Legal Context: The history of the Dean is very complex, but not dissimilar to other royal hunting forests. Most of the Dean, equating closely with the Hundred of St Briavels, comprising open woodland, plantation and forest waste, is managed on behalf of the crown by the Forestry Commission. The actual locations of land available for grazing fluctuates as woodlands are closed at early stages of the growing cycle (usually for 10 years). Many Dean settlements derive from squatters’ camps, and influxes of people erecting cottages on the waste.
The Dean is unique however in that the commons, village greens and common rights are excluded from registration, whilst having no statutory recognition or protection. Section 11 of the 1965 Commons registration Act states: The foregoing provisions of this Act [registration of common land, village greens and rights]… shall not be taken to apply to the Forest of Dean. Section 5 of the 2006 Commons Act states ‘This Part [registration of commons, greens and rights] shall not be taken to apply to the Forest of Dean’. Other areas which are exempted from registration, such as the New Forest and Epping Forest, have their own acts which protect rights.
This has a number of consequences:
- There is lack of clarity about who holds rights, what stock are permitted, numbers and the extent of commonable land (if any).
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The commoners do not receive:
- Single Payment Scheme monies (formerly they did receive headage payments but now get nothing)
- Agri-environment monies
- There is no protection for the land. The Forestry Commission can and do sell off commonable land and waste for development, without the need to provide alternative land where this is over 200 square metres (s16 of Commons Act).
- The proposed privatisation of Forestry Commission property would have involved land largely free from encumbrances and vulnerable to loss. Hoof (Hands Off Our Forest) remains active in seeking to attain protection for the Dean.
The commoners are extremely proud of their heritage, and of the local dialect. Dean Forest Voice promotes Forest culture, identity and dialect. The Dean is sandwiched between the Wye in the west and Severn in the east, and this insularity is a major influence on culture. The commoners refer to themselves as ‘ship badgers’. They are knowledgeable about the significance of Magna Carta and Carta de Foresta to commoning, and may be one of the last communities in Britain to use the phrase levancy and couchancy.
Foot and Mouth: Commoning was severely affected by the outbreak, even though there were no confirmed cases of the disease in the Forest. Formerly there were an estimated 8,000 sheep in hefted flocks, plus donkeys and ponies. There are now about 2,000 sheep and virtually no other stock. Hefts have almost wholly broken down. Scab and fluke was worse after re-stocking. In the 1950s there were an estimated 13,000 sheep, 300 cattle, 300 ponies, chickens, goats and geese, with pigs in the pannage season.
Interactions: A significant issue in the Dean is the potential for sheep to come into close contact with people, generating claims that they mess on pavements and around schools, get into villages, break into gardens, and can be hazards on main roads.
Potential FCL Involvement: The Foundation is currently exploring how it might work with the Forest of Dean Commoners’ Association and other bodies and contribute to issues in the Dean.
Graham Bathe, 2015
