SOMEONE else, this time a Cinderford resident, has pointed out that the proposed Asda store and the Northern Quarter developments are some distance apart. Neither is really at Steam Mills as the leader of the (Forest Council's) Cabinet would have us believe.

Cllr Molyneux asserts that both are necessary to the 'regeneration' of Cinderford. Together they would form a tongue of suburban development reaching the Gloucester-Monmouth Road more than two kilometres away.

The Masterplan asserts that the Northern Quarter 'godsend' would be visited by villagers from Ruardean, the Hill and Drybrook (oh, why?)

Yet the local Press reports the animosity and derision of 'outsiders' who have objected to the exchange of land between Forest Enterprise and those who wish to develop this European-status nature reserve so unsuitably.

The DNA (Dean Natural Alliance) held an amazing meeting at Drybrook with experts in wildlife who have studied what they love for more than 30 years.

The diversity of bats, reptiles and insects has arisen over many years because they have not been disturbed.

Kill the insects and the bats will die from lack of food. They will not go somewhere else – they have established flight paths.

Most striking were the words of warning from Paul Morgan, for many years the surveyor at Northern United colliery.

Surely his judgement can be trusted? He reminded us that the abundant water in abandoned workings eventually finds its way into the Severn.

The rate at which it emerges at Norchard is unvarying, proving that in very wet periods the water table must rise and can cause flooding elsewhere in the area.

– Sylvia Mills, Ruardean.