PEOPLE power has won the day – but not yet the entire battle.

This was the message Hands off our Forest campaigners sent out to supporters, who gathered in their hundreds for the celebratory taking down of HOOF signs and yellow ribbons at the Speech House on Saturday.

Removing a sign from a great oak, Baroness Jan Royall of Blaisdon, Shadow Leader of the House of Lords, said: "It is a celebration because the whole campaign all over our country started here in the Forest of Dean, and it makes me so proud as a Forester the fact that we started it.

"But I don't think this is necessarily the end. I think that we have to be vigilant because there is still 15 per cent of our Forestry land which can be sold."

She also said campaigners must oppose 400 proposed job losses in the Forestry Commission – a quarter of its staff – particularly if the Government wants to increase public access and biodiversity.

Baroness Royall added: "So we have victory, but there's more to be done, and I hope we all remain together. It's fantastic for the community to show that we really can make change."

HOOF chairman Rich Daniels said: "We must make sure the spirit of Warren James lives on in the Forest and fight anything that comes to threaten it.

"I hope we've done him proud and hope Warren's looking down upon us and saying 'well done, awld butt'."

He called on everyone to remove all ribbons and signs, saying: "Let's return our Forest to its natural beauty and be ready for the next time."

Last Thursday, Caroline Spelman told Parliament: "I'm sorry – we got it wrong" and confirmed she would remove any mention of forestry in the Public Bodies Bill and dump the consultation.

She said that she would be launching a new independent panel of experts to review the future for forestry, to report back to the Government by autumn. She said issues in the consultation would be among those considered.

HOOF secretary Ian Standing has written to Mrs Spelman asking for a seat on the committee. It will put forward legal expert Alan Robertson as HOOF's representative.

HOOF is now calling for all the public woodlands in the Dean area, including some in Herefordshire, to be protected in perpetuity against any sell-off or transfer from public ownership.

Coun Andrew Gardiner (Ind, Lydbrook & Ruardean) will move a motion at the full Forest of Dean District Council meeting in Coleford tonight that encompasses HOOF's overall aims and calls for a special council task group to work alongside HOOF in securing protection.

Campaigner John Belcher carried a placard calling for Mark Harper, who did not attend the victory celebration, to apologise to his constituents. The Forest MP, who backed the Government's disposal plans, said he "welcomed" Mrs Spelman's announcement.

Mr Harper said: "I know from my own postbag and from listening to constituents that the public were not happy with what was proposed. I told those who attended the public meeting I held recently that ministers would listen to the consultation. The early responses were clear so my colleague Caroline Spelman has listened and acted upon them promptly."

A joint district council scrutiny committee meeting the MP was due to attend tomorrow to explain the Public Bodies Bill has been cancelled as a result of the announcement, although chairmEn Coun Terry Hale and Len Lawton said the issue of the future of our Forest was still on their agendas.

But Mr Harper is still due to meet all councillors in a meeting held behind closed doors at 10am tomorrow in Coleford.

It is now unclear whether he will hold a second public meeting.