CONGRATULATIONS on your very informative article on the Cinderford Arc proposals. These show that we probably have a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a significant step in improving and transforming Cinderford thereby benefitting the whole of the Forest.
What your article did not say was that these imaginative proposals could mean millions of pounds of investment, providing 70 much needed new homes to the area, some 37 acres of land for leisure and tourism use, and 70 acres of land for employment. This could mean the creation of at least 1,000 jobs.
But there are those who say that this kind of development should not take place, that we should not attempt to help create jobs and a better life for those who live in the Forest. What angers me is that these protests come from those who have in the past attempted to permanently scar the Forest by encouraging open cast mining.
There is a price to pay if Forest Voice succeeds in stopping developments on the old coalfield sites. We will be killing off local communities, and turning the Forest into a suburb for the well off who will further clog our roads as they drive to work in Gloucester, Cheltenham, Bristol, Swindon and Newport.
And while I am on the subject – are the pithead baths at Princess Royal really worth preserving? In the 20 years I have lived here I don't recall any moves to restore them. Surely creating decent well paid jobs would be a better monument to those who toiled in the pits. – Chris Vidler, Labour District Councillor for Littledean.