I AM writing as a very concerned life-time resident of the Forest of Dean. I'm exceptionally proud to come from a long line of miners and it is this mining heritage and past that I am so deeply concerned about. I am, of course, well aware that the Forest is changing and absolutely needs to do so in order to survive and I wholly support this.

The traditional heavy industries including coal mining are now a thing of the past and tourism is, of course, of incredible value to us all here in the Dean. Let us all hope it will continue and develop to be so in the future.

The coal mines of our past obviously don't now employ many people at all but I strongly feel our heritage and the incredibly dangerous and hard work of our forefathers should not be forgotten and obliterated.

This, I strongly feel, is what is happening and is a huge mistake particularly in regards to developing tourism here in the Dean as much as possible.

A lot of money has been spent in the last few years on off-road cycle tracks and many of these utilise the old colliery spoil heaps for this exciting new development in tourism.

Thousands of people come here to the Dean every weekend to ride these tracks and yet how many of them realise the huge part coal mining played in providing them with the venue for their hobby?

I can fully understand many of them are simply not interested. However off-road cyclists are not the only people that come to the Dean for their leisure time.

I know very well many people also come to the Forest of Dean in search of its rich industrial past.

I'm quite prepared to admit this may well not appear to be quite so exciting a reason to come as riding a downhill bicycle race

But it is of equal importance in bringing much-needed revenue to the Dean nonetheless.

Why is the mining past being forgotten and almost, dare I say it, seemingly deliberately obliterated too?

In the last 10 years or so, the Coal Authority, in conjunction with the Forestry Commission/ Forest Enterprise has been very busily making safe hundreds of the old mines.

While I fully appreciate the health and safety of the visitors to the Dean needs to be addressed, why is it that there also seems (very much so to me) to be a very deliberate attempt to pretend our coal mining past didn't happen at all?

As I said and fully accept other people may not think this is much of an issue but I, and I can assure you many hundreds of other people, feel very strongly this is an important issue and we all deplore this approach to our heritage.

I also happen to think that the various bodies responsible are missing out on a fantastic tourism angle in that they should be saying something such as: Look what used to be here and look how we've managed to include it all and develop it into what you see here today.

I'm also well aware that such authorities may well reply: the money simply isn't available to remember the mines. On this matter I absolutely must take them to task.

Let's take just one of these now destroyed collieries as an example and this is just one of many!

New Pit Colliery Shaft up on the Pludds, a long disused shaft that was of great local importance owing to its prominence in the disastrous flooding of the Arthur and Edward Colliery in 1949.

An astronomical amount of money was spent just on constructing a road into the woods, never mind how much was then spent on actually doing the work needed.

A huge road was dug out and stoned with a turning bay for the wagons bringing in the stone.

Then the top of the shaft area was excavated and the shaft was then filled with newly quarried stone.

A concrete 'cap' of absolutely huge proportions was then poured and finally, an excavator shifted the earth about to complete the total obliteration of this historically important piece of our local heritage.

The crew of three or four men was up in the woods with a hired excavator and a dumper and other very expensive machinery for weeks and weeks. Heaven knows what the labour bill was alone?

Now I should say a small memorial has now been placed to mark the old mine's importance but only at the insistence of some thankfully persistent locals and this is very much the exception to how they have done things rather than the rule throughout their work in the Forest of Dean.

I should also point out a significant amount of scrap metal was dug up while all the excavation was going on and this scrap metal alone would have more than paid for the small memorial which wasn't originally intended upon by the authorities at all.

I have been in construction and demolition of one sort and another for my entire working life and I can easily reckon up how much money was spent despite any denials the authorities may like to make.

My point is this: if such a huge amount of money can be found to destroy these old mines then why can't a tiny amount be found to mark each mine with a small vandal-proof sign to say very basically what the mine was called, when it opened and when it closed?

Cost? I'd guess no more than £300. Such a sign would be more or less vandal-proof and require no maintenance at all.

I would also suggest that a definitive map showing the locations of all these long-gone mines could also be made available to the public.

A small nominal charge could be made for each map which could be made available from all the local tourist spots and the Forestry Office in Coleford.

Again the cost of this would be minimal when considered against what has already been seemingly wantonly spent on destroying those very same mines.

This hugely expensive work over the last 10 years or so, has been given to contractors from well outside the Forest of Dean.

And yet there are a great many companies in the Dean that were easily capable of, and experienced in, such work.

Especially in respect to how the local economy has suffered, these companies would surely have greatly appreciated such work and revenue?

So I have to ask, why has this huge amount of work and money not been spent with a local company? – Bob Smith, Mile End.