Instead of assuming that I'm some kind of heathen and only seeing the downside of what I'm saying,have a look at how much access we really have.What are we actually allowed to do on FC land?
If it was privatised then we could then demand something for our money,If you pay to go on private land then you can expect certain standards and facilities.At present you have no rights to anything at all on FC land.there was a time when you had no right to even be on the land and it wasn't that long ago.In the past I tried to get access to some FC land to use as a site where we could stay overnight and enjoy our hobby.I had to get insurance (£5,000,000 public liability insurance) risk assesments,emergency plans and all sorts of other things just to be able to go and do what we all like to do.After 8 months of chasing all these things up and site visits with the area manager I finally got the permission we wanted,it just had to be passed by the FC top brass who unfortunately doesn't like bushcrafters.The best she was able to offer us was 10 individual night booked 6 months in advance at a cost of £480.This is ridiculous.We cannot use theses forests as we like eventhough we have paid for them for years.I understand and abhor the fact that every day there are people who wantonly destroy foothpaths with vehicles,burn acres of woodland through carelessness or spite,leave untold tons of litter and have raucous parties in what should be a pristine environment.How often are these people caught and punished?Yet we as a nature loving community are not allowed into the woodlands to practice our hobby .We are being punished for what others outside our community are doing,it's a bit like stopping your kids eating sweets because the kid down the road has toothache.
If the woodlands are sold to private enterprise the new owners will want as much return for their outlay as possible,if this means allowing people to use the woods for bushcraft then they will allow it as long as they make some money.If the place is like a tip then people won't go there and they won't make any money.
There is a private woodland near me that also has a commercial campsite with all the facillities you could want He charges £7 per night for one part of the site and £5 for the other part.The woodland site has fresh mains water and that is it.You'd think that the part with all the facillities would cost more but you'd be wrong.He charges more (and gets it ) for the woodland site because(in his words) supply and demand ensures that his woodland site is full right through summer and you need to book in advance any other time.This is a perfect example of private woodland being more accessible to us than publically owned FC land.
The choice we have out of the above is pay for what we want to do on private land or don't do it at all because the FC won't allow it.
I hope this goes a ways to showing that I'm not the devil in disguise but just a realist.