I UNDERSTAND that the Forest of Dean District Council has made the decision to collect textiles at the kerbside from next July.

As textiles in this context usually constitute unwanted clothing, this will have a serious impact on donations to local charity shops and consequently on their income.

What happens to the collected clothes is unclear, presumably selling to the ragman is what the council intends to do but this omits an important stage in recycling.

If a garment is taken to a charity shop it can be sold to another user and thus has a further lease of useful life even if it is eventually sold as rags.

It may be that some items collected by a ragman are sold on to the Third World but the majority is shredded for the flocking industry.

Omitting the first stage of recycling denies charity shops the opportunity to source income to keep their services funded.

I have been advised that there is some suggestion that garments collected by the Forest of Dean District Council will be sorted and those deemed suitable (by whom?) will be offered to charity shops to sell.

This is unworkable as the scheme would inevitably breed friction and dissent between the various charities over the value of the various goods offered and is open to corruption.

This is a typically bureaucratic solution to a non-existent problem.

Taking unwanted garments to charity shops has worked successfully for decades and does not need interference from a council, particularly when the charities themselves were not consulted about the consequences.

If, as I am told, there are those who do not want to support any charity with their cast-off clothes, then there are clothes banks at various points in the Forest to which they may be taken.

There is a further point to be taken into consideration.

Councils need income and it is quite likely that these further waste collections could be charged for in the future.

This would mean residents paying for the collection of something they could take to charity shops free-of-charge and know that not only would their donations be re-cycled but they would be helping to support the charity’s services.

As grants are now in short supply charities are advised to ‘think creatively’ and source their own funding – only to discover that when they do so by running successful shops they are stabbed in the back by the very local government that should be supporting them.

From next April Trustees will also have to introduce the Living Wage, a further drain on scarce income, so the Forest of Dean District Council’s initiative constitutes a double blow.

Age Concern Forest of Dean maintains two shops, one in Lydney and one in Cinderford.

Their sales, of which clothes comprise 70 per cent, constitute the largest part of our income which is all directed at our two services of meals provision and befriending, both of which are for the benefit of elderly residents of the Forest.

The Trustees will continue to lobby the council for a change of decision but in the meantime we do urge our loyal customers and those who kindly donate to us to continue to do so and to patronise our shops.

– Daphne Pearson (Dr), Chairman of Trustees, Age Concern Forest of Dean.