DEAN Deputy Surveyor Rob Guest is stepping down after 13 years in the post.

The Forestry Commission's local district manager, reaching age 60, qualifies for retirement under Civil Service arrangements.

He took up the post at the Bank House, Coleford, offices in 1997 at age 47. Successor to the post established in Charles I's time, he was the tenth Deputy Surveyor since the war – only 25 individuals having occupied the role in those preceding three centuries.

With a forestry degree from Bangor, he worked in New Zealand woodlands management. As elsewhere that country was seeking multi-purpose forestry, combining timber production with recreational use and environmental conservation.

Returning to England with his wife and three children, he was first at the FC's York office covering North England.

Coming to the Dean job, his district took in a much wider area than its name suggests – covering woods stretching from Herefordshire to Wiltshire's ancient Savernake Forest. 

In his years in the Dean he has grappled with age-old problem of free-roaming sheep, and his work has been complicated more recently with the arrival of wild boar. With a limited budget, he has overseen the gradual expansion of leisure facilities at locations such as Beechenhurst and Mallards Pike.