FOLLOWING on from my letter you kindly printed in last week's addition of the Review concerning the appalling invasion of the Forest, I pointed out that the Government inspector did not give his blessing to the Cinderford Northern Arc as the Cabinet, the officers and the Regeneration Board would have members of council and the public believe. Here I list some of the points from his report.

Referring to the Forestry Commission he says: Any Forest Waste that is taken for new development is essentially a matter for that body in the spirit of the 1981 Forestry Act and not, the Core Strategy plan, however desirable it may be in principle.

In another paragraph on this subject he says: Similarly, as I understand it, the legal status of the Statutory Forest can only be changed by Parliament, and/or defined by the courts, and not by anything in the Core Strategy or an Area Action Plan.

With reference to the Forest and The Northern Arc he says: This issue is still possibly subject to future legal proceedings, and I have found for the time being it remains inconclusive.

He also says: Proposals subsequently included in the Local Plan would be unable to proceed for legal reasons.

So you see, just a few quotes from his report shows that the issue is way beyond his remit. There are probably other issues in the report but it will take six months to read it all (and another six months to fathom out the council's website).

In his report of 10 years ago on this same proposal, the last Government appointed inspector said: "It is no good making plans that cannot be implemented".

This inspector, 10 years on, has said the same thing; he's just used a lot more words.

– I. G. Ellis, Lower Milkwall.