I HAVE today sent the attached letter to our local MP, Mark

Harper. You may wish to reproduce part of all of it in your

newspaper, since it asks some very searching questions of

him as our elected representative.

'I am writing, following the HOOF rally today at

Speech House, to ask why you did not have the courage or

words to face the HOOF protestors and speak clearly and

unequivocally on your position re: the White Paper on

disposal of the UK's publicly owned forests. Instead, you

chose to use the radio (a very safe place to speak from) to

put over your view that the protestors are "jumping the

gun." I need to make the following points to you:

1. The protestors are, in the main your constituents,

many of whom will have voted for you in the General

Election on the back of your promises to represent them.?

Putting it bluntly, they do not trust the vague and high

level words you've applied in this issue, and I can't say I

blame them. If ever you wanted to stir up hysteria, then

you've certainly gone about it the right way, by being part

of a process that has cut out public consultation and is

rushing through the legislative process with unseemly

haste.

2. Your membership (and loyalty to the whip) of the

Conservative Party, morally should come second to your

duty to serve as an elected MP for this constituency.

Further, you should have the nerve, guts and most

importantly the words and wit to be able to address

HOOF's concerns. Failure to do so labels you as a cowards

in their eyes, and certainly not a person who represents

this constituency.

3. In the circumstances, it is pretty clear to me that

the people of this Forest are taking your distanced

comments on this matter to their hearts, and that you will

reap a whirlwind of criticism and hostility, particularly

when it comes to the next election opportunity. I can only

assume that you've been promised better things by your

party in working, and that you have forgotten your

promises and loyalty to your constituents. Personally, I

don't know how you can sleep peacefully, knowing that

you cannot address the HOOF issues clearly and stand for

what your people are telling you.

4. I'm sure you must have got the message by now,

but why sell off the Forest to us, the community, if we

already (as taxpayers and citizens) own it? It makes no

sense, particularly as the Forestry Commission already

fulfil that role by proxy, and fulfill it professionally and

well, realising income from their expert husbanding of

Forest resources.

5. The Forest is not just land with trees and mineral

wealth and plastic tourism that's there to be exploited.?

It's a community, a culture, a way of life, indeed a country

within a country – and this identity and culture uniqueness

also exists in other Forests around the UK. How you

cannot appreciate this and cold-bloodely be working on a

policy which will allow, carte blanche, the ability to sell off

land is beyond me.

6. Think about the logic of selling an asset off once

as opposed to its long-term viability if managed and

husbanded professionally. The major problem with most

public sector strategies that that they are tied around

what MPs and senior civil servants hope to achieve career-

wise in the limited span in post. This is at odds to

medium-to-long-term thinking, whereby public assets

are planned and managed to produce benefit (a mix of

commercial profit and intangible benefit) over longer

periods.

7. Now examine your conscience and work out

where the logic and sense are for the UK, rather than your

own career in the Conservative Party.

8. Do not for one moment estimate the power of the

people in this matter. This is Big Society working – the

people have enough passion on this matter to keep you

looking over your shoulder for your entire tenure of this

constituency.

7. You must come down clearly and categorically on

the side of your constituents. You must take it as a matter

of conscience to directly address this issue on a basis of

human culture, environment and quality of life, not simply

as parcels of land. You must weigh up whether it's more

important to be remembered as a career politician, or a

man of conscience and courage who took on board what

his people told him, discussed it sensibly with them and

represented their views in?Parliament, not his political

party's views.

Please, please do not send me a formulaic, cut and

pasted reply.?Please consider my points and examine your

conscience and position as a person?(rather than as a

party).

– Mike Edwards, Edge End, Coleford.