Widespread protests, including this one by seven-year-old Fergus Meanwell in Grizedale, greeted the plans

It was a peculiarly English revolt, and it resulted in that rarest of events: a politician saying ‘sorry’.

Back in October last year, it must have seemed a good idea to Caroline Spelman to be at the head of the queue of ministers offering to cut their departmental budgets.

Brownie points could be had for being one of the first to come up with huge departmental cuts in a ‘soft’ area – an anachronistic organisation set up to secure the supply of pit props after the First World War. Who would shed a tear if the Forestry Commission were stripped of its land and the Treasury coffers boosted by a quarter of a million quid or so?

Yet less than four months later the unfortunate Ms Spelman had been forced to stand at the dispatch box and admit: ‘We got this one wrong’.

As Labour’s shadow Environment Secretary Mary Creagh pointed out, the Member for Meriden had managed the unique feat of uniting the Socialist Workers Party and the National Trust in opposition to her plans.

The huge upswell of opposition to the coalition Government’s plans to sell off England’s publicly owned forests and woodlands clearly took both the Secretary of State and her Prime Minister by surprise, with shire Tory MPs privately telling their leaders just how unpopular the plans were.

More than half a million people put their names to an online petition calling on the Government to abandon its plans for the sell-off. Boris Johnson’s sister Rachel, editor of The Lady magazine, stepped forward as president of Save England’s Forests, and their dad Stanley added his name to that of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Chris Bonington and other public figures including Anthony Gormley, Tracey Emin, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and X-Files actress Gillian Anderson – hardly icons of the Left, in a plea to ditch the proposals.

Understandably, outdoor bodies united in their opposition, mainly on the grounds that access and conservation were likely to suffer. The British Mountaineering Council, the Ramblers, the National Trust, Campaign for National Parks and the Open Spaces Society all came out against the plans.

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron, consistent in his opposition

Mountain bikers, with perhaps the most to lose, were some of the most vociferous opponents, and Liberal Democrat president and MP Tim Farron stood beside Labour MP John Woodcock and tore up copies of the Public Bodies Bill, which would give Ms Spelman and her successors the right to sell off all Forestry Commission land in the future without asking for Parliament’s permission.

The writing was on the wall. 12 days ago the Environment Secretary went on television to say the sell-off was not a ‘done deal’.  And this Wednesday David Cameron declared bluntly that he was not happy with his own Government’s forestry plans.

A day later, Caroline Spelman stood before her fellow MPs and said: “I am sorry, we got this one wrong – but we have listened to people’s concerns.”

Out went the clauses of the Public Bodies Bill; out went the consultation on how to dispose of Forestry Commission land; in came a panel of experts – including access bodies – to look at English forestry policy.

‘Apology accepted’, said the Ramblers. “As the walking experts, we are looking forward to engaging with the Government to ensure that access to our forests is protected now and always,” added their chief executive Tom Franklin.

The online campaigning organisation 38 Degrees was more blunt: “We’ve won!”  it declared. “The Government has just confirmed they’re totally scrapping the forest sell-off. The phoney consultation has been cancelled. The sinister legal changes to pave the way for privatisation have been dropped.

“We did this together. Next time someone tries to tell any of us that signing petitions or emailing our MPs doesn’t work, we’ll know exactly what to say: ‘People power does work. Just look at the Save Our Forests campaign’.”

Roger Gale, the Tory MP for North Thanet, dismissed the half million online activists sniffily as ‘push-button campaigners’.

But Mr Gale was a minority voice in the Commons as Conservative and Liberal Democrat members lined up to praise the u-turn despite, curiously, voting against an Opposition motion condemning the plans just two weeks earlier.

For the record, the Tory MPs who appeared to have a change of heart in those 15 days were: Andrew George, Neil Parish, Desmond Swayne, Nick Boles, Andrew Percy, Sir Peter Bottomley, Mark Spencer, Thérèse Coffey, Andrew Murrison, Heather Wheeler, John Glen, David Rutley, Matthew Hancock, Kris Hopkins, Christopher Pincher and Andrew Bridgen.

Liberal Democrat coalition colleagues also failed to back the Labour challenge but stood up to praise Caroline Spelman during her appearance in the Commons, including: Andrew George, Bob Russell, Roger Williams and Stephen Williams.

England’s sole Green MP Caroline Lucas had backed the Labour motion as had whip-defying Tories Caroline Nokes, who spoke in support of Ms Spelman, Zac Goldsmith and Julian Lewis.

Lake District MP Tim Farron and Liberal Democrat colleagues Mike Hancock and Adrian Sanders were also consistent in voting against the coalition Government on the matter on 2 February.

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman: 'We got this one wrong’

The u-turn is without doubt a huge victory for ‘people power’. Not as telegenic as the Tahrir Square demonstrations nor as far-reaching in their scope. But in its own, understated, English way, the overturning of a hugely unpopular Government policy has been a modern demonstration that, even in a parliamentary democracy, the elected executive can’t just do as it pleases.

All of which leaves the outdoor community with work to do. Already the British Mountaineering Council is asking its members for detailed information on climbing crags on Forestry Commission land so they can be included in the upcoming deliberations.

Chris Reid, senior policy officer for the Campaign for National Parks, said: “The Campaign for National Parks was especially concerned to ensure that important wildlife and access benefits provided by the forest estate were protected.  The independent panel should take evidence from national park groups in order to gain a proper understanding of the importance of the estate to our finest landscapes and how its future management might be improved.”

And the Ramblers’ chief executive Tom Franklin added: “We call on Government to protect, maintain and increase access to all our nation’s woodlands and our campaign to save the woodland walk will continue.”

But for the next few days, the outdoor world can allow itself a small smile at a victory won by modern techniques and good, old-fashioned tubthumping.

As grough predicted earlier this week, the Whinlatter Forest rally this Saturday that was to have been a chance to put further pressure on the Government will now take place in a party atmosphere of celebration for the power of the people.

Sir Chris Bonington, fellow climber Leo Houlding, Lord Clark of Windermere, MP Jamie Read and Friends of the Lake District policy officer Jack Ellerby will talk to the gathering.

As Ms Spelman admitted in the House of Commons: “If there is one clear message from this experience, it is that people cherish their forests and woodlands and the benefits that they bring.”