FOREST of Dean District Council has agreed to back our Hands Off Our Forest campaign and to send a delegation to Parliament to put pressure on the Prime Minister, MPs and Lords against any sell-off.

In a busy week for HOOF campaigners, more than 20 supporters sat in on a full council meeting.

At Wednesday's reconvened full council meeting, Coun Andrew Gardiner (Independent, Lydbrook & Ruardean) moved a few people to tears, including Coun Di Martin (Lab, Cinderford East) as he made an emotional speech.

He pleaded with councillors to "vote with their consciences rather than their party line".

Eventually, the 41 councillors present voted by 21 votes to 20 against to back his call to protect the statutory Forest from any privatisation.

Coun Terry Hale (Conservative, Newland & St Briavels) broke ranks from his party to tip the voting balance.

Under Coun Gardiner's motion, the council's head of paid services will write to Mark Harper MP and the Prime Minister, copying in an email to the environment secretary Caroline Spelman, and all MPs, members of the House of Lordfs and all local authorities "requesting their urgent action and support to exempt the Royal Forest of Dean from Clause 17 of the Public Bodies Bill".

The council's solicitor will organise a deputation of councillors representing all groups and parties, council officers, and co-opted experts to meet with those pushing the Public Bodies Bill through the Lords and Commons, including Lord Taylor and Mrs Spelman.

Leader of the council's Labour group Bruce Hogan, then managed to get a motion passed to align the council with HOOF and to invite Mr Harper to a meeting with councillors "so that there can be a full and frank exchange of views".

Coun Hogan (Lab, Lydbrook & Ruardean) agreed to add an amendment to his motion by Independent group leader Coun Norman Stephens (Newnham & Westbury) - who also seconded Coun Gardiner's motion - clarifying that public ownership means a "local body under the countol of a democratically elected government of the United Kingdom".

Conservatives, however, argued that public ownership could mean a community organisation or the "big society", and attempted to overthrow the mention of government. But they failed when Coun Keith Aburrow (Con, Pillowell) voted against the rest of his party.

Ultimately 26 out of 41 councillors agreed to get behind HOOF, with three Conservatives abstaining, six Tories voting against, and others failing to vote at all.