THE naivety expressed by Cllr Max Coborn, in his letter to the Review last week is nothing short of breathtaking.

Does he not understand that this development is planned to take place within the boundary of the Statutory Forest?

And, if it does receive planning permission, it will make it extremely difficult for the planning authorities to refuse other, similar applications in the future?

He says that all he wants is a future for his children but is a Forest gradually being nibbled away at the edges really a part of the future he envisages?

He calls those of us who oppose this ridiculous development 'dinosaurs'.

I would like to inform him, in the strongest possible terms, that we also want what's best for our children.

We're not seeking a Forest preserved in aspic but neither do we want to see it used as a convenient building plot.

The area around Steam Mills Lake is patently the wrong location for this development and if Cllr Coborn really does want what's best for his children he should be shouting louder than anyone about the importance of regeneration initiatives being sustainable and properly located.

Valley Road, less than half a mile away, is already designated as an area suitable for development.

It has large, vacant plots and rows of industrial units which are already owned by the council.

There's even an existing spur road, alongside Winner Garage, which was constructed with the express intention of providing a northern relief route for traffic currently passing Steam Mills School.

It's a logical and sensible route that, unlike the new road which needlessly doglegs through the forest, attracted no controversy when it was proposed. 

I'm a born-and-bred Forester. I love the Forest and, just like Cllr Coborn, I want it to be a place where my children can grow and thrive.

But I despair at those who think this can only be achieved through the destruction of my homeland in the names of 'regeneration' and 'development'.

– Shauna Gwynne, Whitecroft.