THE organisers behind the Great Forest Debate say the first of four public meetings proves there is massive support for making a stand on further Forest development.
"The first of the four debates organised for this month was a success after all," said a Dean Forest Voice spokesman after last Thursday's event at Forest hills Golf Club.
This was despite accusations claiming the group was misleading the public, and the refusal of the Forest of Dean District Council to send an official representative.
"It was well attended, positive and productive and a show of hands at the end was 100 per cent opposed to any sort of development in the Statutory Forest.
"Despite no official representation, quite a few council members from across the Forest did come and they were able to judge for themselves the true strength of feeling."
Dean Forest Voice argues there are statutory as well as traditional grounds for not classing former Forest pit heads as brownfield sites which can be developed.
The next meeting in the series is at the Belle Vue Centre in Cinderford this Thursday (7pm) and the following Thursday will see the debate renewed at Yorkley Institute.
The precise date of the last meeting, at Speech House, has not yet been decided but the organisers were hoping MP Diana Organ would attend, perhaps with a government minister. In a letter to the Review as we went to press Mrs Organ said she did not think such a meeting should be led by government representatives but she welcomed the chances offered to Forest people to debate the issues.