I AM disappointed at the conduct of council leader Peter Amos at the House of Lords last week.?The Forest of Dean District Council delegation led by Independent Cllr Andrew Gardiner went with a simple message of garner support for an amendment to the Public Bodies Bill for a continued exemption for the Forest of Dean.

It's well known that Cllr Amos was strongly opposed to sending a deputation at all, but then asked if he could come along. He gave myself and other councillors absolute assurances "that as a retired Royal marine officer he knew how to take orders" and would not do or say anything to geopardise the reason for our visit. In good faith we trusted his word. It was agreed that only Cllr Gardiner would speak to the media on behalf of the council delegates.

Having been to the Lords we then had a meeting with our MP Mark Harper to put our case. I and other members of the delegation came away feeling it was still very much an uphill struggle.

For Cllr Amos to sneak away (I'm sorry no other word will suffice) without our knowledge and give a pre-arranged TV and radio interview indicating that the Forest of Deanw as safe was misleading and I believe damaging to our cause. The threat is still very real as reported in the Sunday papers and television news (Jan 23).

I've had a week to ponder as to why he behaved in this manner. The only conclusion I can come to is that as a former Royal Marine officer he was acting under orders. All very cloak and dagger!

From where were his orders coming and who is his controller? Perhaps it's 'M' as of 007 James Bond fame.

It could be that his orders from 'M' began well before Independent Cllr Andrew Gardiner's motion to send a delegation to the House of Lords was debated at council on December 8. It was a friendly motion that Andrew and I thought would find favour throughout the council.

Then party politics played its head. I believe 'M' ordered Cllr Amos to defeat the motion at all costs – a perfect example why party politics has no place at district council level!

I can only imagine 'M' was fuming when the ploy failed and immediately issued a further order for him to make sure he was now included in the delegation, with the advice to travel alone as he might need to get out fast. 'M' tells him that when he arrives at?Westminster to await orders and slip quietly away from the rest of the delegates.

I have had a great deal of respect for Peter but I believe he has exercised exceedingly bad judgement on this issue by any standards and certainly the standards of a council leader and retired Royal Marine officer.

What now? Well the future of the status of the Forest is far from certain and I believe that Peter's actions have gone against the spirit of the council motions at every turn.

He should now seriously consider his position as council leader.

The council meetings recently have been nothing more than political farce, instead of doing what's best for the people we represent.

– Cllr Norman Stephens (Newnham and Westbury), Independent Group Leader, Forest of Dean District Council.