IN his rant against Hands Off Our Forest (HOOF) and the Forestry Commission, I G Ellis (Letters, Nov 4, 2011) seems to have lost sight of the good job those two organisations have done recently and of how awful our situation would be without them. 

HOOF was formed to fight the impending privatisation of the English forests, and its famous 'rally in the snow' not only alerted Foresters to the danger but also the national press and thus the rest of England. Without HOOF and other organisations forcing the government to back down, it is very likely that the fences would be going up all over our Forest right now.

The Cinderford regeneration scheme has its critics – you cannot please everyone all the time and no one likes to see forest disappear – but it has always been the case in the Forest that land is used for other purposes to benefit the community. It is what makes the Forest unique – it is a living, breathing, working forest where we all live and work and are educated.

Of course you are at liberty to disagree with any individual plan, that is what the ballot box is for next time there are council elections.

But surely it is better that such projects are undertaken by the Forestry Commission and our democratically elected councillors, rather than by private landlords who could do as they please with our heritage.

Rather than blame HOOF, perhaps I G Ellis should join us, as most Foresters have, in trying to stop the complete destruction of our Forest and our way of life by this cut-at-all-costs government.

–  John French, Brockweir.