IN this week's Review (February 27) the front page carries an article about the future Lydney housing development planned by Robert Hitchins.

I most certainly sympathise with Gordon Blake as I too have participated in every way possible to stop this "burial by bricks" disaster, but have come to the conclusion that the only way to stop this project would be to throw oneself under Hitchins' bulldozers, or employ Guy Fawkes' tactics at some government offices.

Over the past few years I have been advised by Mark Harper that neither he, nor his party in opposition, can do anything to stop the project, so count him out.

Similarly, I have been assured by our district councillors in Coleford that they are powerless to stop this project, so forget them.

If the planning department in Coleford rejected the application, they say that they will be driven into expensive legal processes by Hitchins, so they will have to concede and approve the application, so forget them.

The Lakeside flooding problems were brought into the issue and a copy of a document that I received, dated 1 July 2008, from the following:-

Jean Nowak, Planning Central Casework Division, Department for Communities and Local Government, 1/J1, Eland House, Bressenden Place, London SW1E 5DU advised Robert Hitchins' planning manager, Phil Hardwick, that the "Secretary of State indicated that she was minded to agree with the Inspector's recommendations to grant planning permission, subject to (3) conditions".

The second of these conditions was "clarification of the relationship of the proposed development to the existing flooding problem at the Lakeside culvert".

Everyone knows that the flooding problem was brought about by poor planning, and the building of more houses in that area. Everyone also knows that if Hitchins is allowed to build more houses in that immediate area, the flooding problem would obviously become far worse than it is now.

The authorities in Coleford, subsequent to the above document, have desperately endeavored to bury the flooding problem, using such ploys as making minor culvert cleaning exercises, and currently spending £50,000 on consultants to make the problem go away.

So you can see, Mr. Blake, democracy has been totally destroyed over this past decade by Messrs. Blair, Brown, and Prescott, and the decision to build 1200 houses in Lydney is totally out of the hands of the residents of Lydney, our district council, and our local MP.

This housing project is being driven by the illegal, un-elected regional authorities over whom we the people have no control.

The people of this country voted in that gang in 1997 and many of those voters still approve of their actions (but not so many nowadays) and we are paying the price for that foolishness.

I have written to those regional authorities on this matter, and they have ignored my letters.

I'm sorry to say, Mr. Blake, it is sad news, but nothing you can do would appear to be beneficial to our cause. Hitchins' application will be approved, and houses will be built. However, two points come to mind:-

Firstly, who is organizing and running this big scam called a Public Inquiry, and why ?

Secondly, I have heard that Hitchins has no intention of building these houses, but is hoping to sell the approved applications and permits to another developer for a profit, but I have no guarantee that this information is correct. Perhaps it is worth investigating, I suppose, as it may relate to the first point.

In closing, I would advise that I did not know of this meeting that Mr. Blake went to last week, but would certainly have attended if I had known. Was it advertised ?

If Mr. Blake can confirm my first point above as to when and who is running the next meeting, I will most certainly join him.

It's about time that the population of the Forest woke up to this realisation that their livelihood is in severe jeopardy. – Ralph Perry, Lydney.