A FORMER Monmouth GP is calling for Gloucestershire Royal Hospital's maternity unit to be made part of the Hundred of St Briavels to ensure freeminer births.
Dr Charlotte Jones has written to Forest MP Mark Harper suggesting the move as a solution to the problem of babies born in Gloucester not qualifying for freeminer status.
Dr Jones, who used to practise in Monmouth but had many Forest patients, originally put up the idea some years ago to the then West Gloucestershire MP Paul Marland.
"He assured me then that he was putting forward the idea, which would probably need a statute change," said Doctor Jones.
"I assumed the idea was going forward but there was a change of electoral boundaries and the matter must have been shelved. However I still think it is a good idea. I feel it important that the institution of freeminers was valuable and should not be lost."
To quailfy as a freeminer someone must be born in the Hundred of St Briavels, which encloses much of the Statutory Forest, and must have worked in a mine for a year and a day.
The fact that there are no longer any maternity units in the Forest has meant a main qualification is missing, with most hospital births now in Gloucestershire Royal. Some local commentators have seen the closure of local maternity units as a political move intended to eliminate freemining.
Mr Harper said: "Our local traditions, such as the right to be a freeminer for those born in the Hundred of St Briavels, are very important.
"Clearly the closure of the local maternity unit has affected the number of people being born in the Hundred, but locally we have a home birth rate of 4.3 per cent compared to a national average of 2.8 per cent which shows that many people view these as important."