LAST night I attended a vitally important meeting at Berry Hill Rugby Club about the future of Five Acres. It was hard not to come away angry and suspicious. The turn-out of the meeting (well chaired by West Dean) was encouraging – probably around 175 local people including dedicated parish councillors and members of Dean Forest Voice.
Frankly, there appears to be a frightening level of cloak and dagger work going on here on behalf of those who stand to gain from the putative closure and relocation of the college and leisure centre to Cinderford.
There is also a potential level of injustice which could sound the death knell for a community which does not deserve it.
Closing Five Acres Leisure Centre flies in the face of government and health service recommendations about the urgent need for young people to stave off obesity. Then to bus these young people (presumably at their cost) off to Gloucester and Cheltenham for courses which used to be the pride of the Forest is tantamount to absurd. Isn't it farcical to knock down community facilities to make way for more families, who will then bemoan the lack of local community facilities?
And where is the public consultation? Have feasibility studies been done and if so, where can I read them? The lack of transparency is quite breathtaking. Is the district council really going to build a new £10m road in Cinderford instead of investing in the vital, established community services up the road to which children can currently walk? It certainly makes no sense environmentally. And the site for the new (smaller) college, (which appears to have been cynically run down in Coleford)? Apparently in a heavily mined (ie potentially dangerous) area near Steam Mills, disturbing wildlife habitats. Would Cinderford have two swimming pools, and Coleford not one? Every way you look at this crazy idea – it is just wrong.
There is another meeting 7.30pm, May 8, in Berry Hill. I urge all Foresters to attend. This is not just a Coleford issue, but a Forest issue. Let's work together against waste, egos, secrecy and above all, for the next generation of youngsters, for investing in what we have already started, for democracy and for old fashioned common sense. This is urgent folks. The Forest of Dean District Council must hear our voice before it is too late.
– Julia Sykes,?St Briavels.