§ Sir Richard Bodyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report the text 459W of the letter from the Treasury Solicitor to Mr. Michael Robertson, the owner of a designated woodland in the Glynn valley, regarding tree felling.
§ Mr. JoplingI have been asked to reply.
The Treasury Solicitor's office has been unable to trace any letter to Mr. Michael Robertson on the subject of tree-felling. It did, however, write on 4 February 1986 to solicitors representing Messrs. C. M. Robertson (Developments) Ltd., of which Mr. Robertson is chairman, concerning the release of an area of woodland from the Forestry Commission's dedication scheme. The text of this letter is reproduced. The release of this woodland from dedication does not, however, imply permission to fell trees: any felling done is subject to the provisions of the felling regulations.
Dear Sirs
DEDICATED WOODLANDS (RELEASE)
PENGELLY ESTATE CORNWALL
C M ROBERTSON (DEVELOPMENTS) LIMITED
I have been advised by the Forestry Commission that your Clients own the freehold of 3.3 hectares of land coloured red on the plan enclosed in duplicate which is at present restricted by Deed of Forestry use. At request the Forestry Commissioners have agreed to release the land from this restriction.Accordingly I should be grateful if you would provide me with a copy of the conveyance vesting this land in your Clients, including a copy or extract from the plan attached or referred to therein.In the meantime I enclose a draft Deed of Release together with a copy thereof for your use please return one copy approved by you. I will then order plans and engross the Deed of Release, to be executed solely by the Commissioners.Once the Deed has been sealed I will complete the matter, sending you the original Deed which you will note attracts no Stamp Duty. Thereafter the cancellation of the relevant Land Charge Entry will be dealt with and I will let you have a copy of the cancellation certificate for your records.The terms agreed for the release were that the Commission should bear your Clients' reasonable legal costs in this matter. In submitting your invoice (which I suggest that you should so at completion) it would be helpful if you could show VAT separately, although it should be marked 'this is not a tax invoice'. The Owners should only be reimbursed for such of the VAT on your costs as the Owners cannot recover otherwise; so that I can tell how far your Clients should be reimbursed for VAT kindly return the enclosed VAT Certificate filled in on behalf of your Clients.I look forward to hearing from you.Yours faithfullyK. Dowlingfor the Treasury Solicitor