THROUGH your re­nowned newspaper we would welcome support for Asda supermarket to come to the town of Cinderford.

Currently we have two supermarkets in the town, a Co-op and a Lidl. The Co-op is currently contesting and preventing Asda from building and opening a store in the town and this is being dealt with in court, the case is due to be heard again in London in June. Previous to this Tesco fought a twelve year battle and was defeated by the Co-op.

Cinderford is an economically deprived area with a population of 8,000. It has a higher than national average rate of unemployment. The Range, a local employer, is closing in September which will result in three hundred redundancies; this is a massive blow for our local community. Also the shops in the high street are struggling; the only shoe shop is closing along with Beales, our only (small) clothing and department store.

The Cinderford Regeneration Board is currently working towards major new developments located within the town including a new education facility, a hotel, much needed 200 affordable homes.

Trilogy, the developers of Asda, has worked with the district council and members of the Cinderford Regeneration Board to explore ways that they can help enhance the town centre. Trilogy has also pledged money towards crime prevention publicity materials inside the store and measures to secure training and employment opportunities for local people.

Due to the Co-op taking businesses out of the town and relocating them into their store or around Cinderford – including the post office, chemist, travel agents and dry cleaning service, the town itself has died.

Many of the shops are empty and the town is very run-down. We believe people in Cinderford are not being listened to. The only support we have had is our mayor Max Coborn.

Cinderford has a higher than average of people aged 0-15 and we as a group recognise that employment for this next, and current generation is vital. We believe Asda would be able to provide much needed employment, we also feel that Asda would attract other businesses to the town. In conjunction with this Asda will help regenerate the skate park, one of the few places left for the younger members of our community.

We believe the Co-op has the monopoly of Cinderford which is unfair. We as a town want the choice to shop where we choose and to purchase items that are more competitively priced. We consider Asda would make the Co-op more competitive price wise and more affordable for the people within our community. Currently 40% per cent of Cinderford residents carry out their main food shop elsewhere, 25% per cent of people in this town do not have access to a car and are forced to shop in the town. Our largest supermarket is located in Gloucester 14 miles away, which is an hour on the bus, so not exactly convenient.

The 'We Want Asda in Cinderford' campaign has marched through the town on several occasions and signed petitions.

We are now organising a ASDA family fun day on June 9 so people of the Forest of Dean can sign petitions and express their feelings.

The people of Cinderford are starting to get their backs up as why other towns in the Forest of Dean can get multiple supermarkets but Cinderford cannot. We are fighting for the town, to bring Cinderford back to life as it has become a ghost town and being left with hairdressers, charity shops and takeaways.

We are on Facebook We want Asda in Cinderford.

– Amanda Watkins, We Want Asda in Cinderford.