I SUPPOSE I must be one of the people Cllr Morgan refers to in his rather desperate sounding onslaught against critics of the proposed Northern Quarter development on the front page of the Review last week.

He refers to his boyhood when the area was seven little pits and surrounded by mudstone and how today it is virtually waste land with slagheaps and lacks beauty being just brownfield land.

I am sure the walkers, dog owners, fishermen and past councillors who walk the Linear Park will will have trouble identifying where this hellish scene could possibly be.

The area Cllr Morgan is talking about is centred around the fishing pond between Winner garage and Northern United and is actually part of the designated Linear Park and not forgotten wasteland.

The Council signs extolling how the area is a unique blend of wildlife conservation and industrial heritage and it's importance for wildlife are there on the park for all to see. The enlightened councillors of 15 years ago who were far sighted enough to set up the Linear Park must in Cllr Morgans view also be up for a good slagging as he so eloquently puts it.

Building a ribbon development half a mile from the centre of Cinderford would do nothing beneficial for the town centre and the unique aspect of the gradual change of town to Forest via the Linear Park would be further eroded. The development is on a so-called Brownfield site which is old industrial and mine workings allowed to go back to nature with a little help from man to make ponds and manage the area sympathetically. These sites are now being nationally recognised by ecologists as very important for wildlife and in the Dean even more so since Foot and Mouth and the reduction of sheep grazing has seen large areas of the forest edge and open areas become overgrown. The poor soils and slow vegetation growth on this last Brownfield site in the Cinderford area has become species rich as wildlife has contracted to these diminishing areas. The council wildlife survey work before commencing the development plan seems to have been sadly lacking.

My interest is butterfly conservation so I attended the planning Inspector's meeting in October at the Council Offices to put the case as to why the site was so important for the four rare species of butterfly found flying or breeding there. During the presentations I was amazed to hear from the relevant wildlife organisations that there were also 11 species of bat, four species of reptiles, two rare moths and no less than 23 species of dragonfly in the vicinity of the development area.

This wildlife concentration makes the site the most species rich area of anywhere in the Forest, no wonder people concerned about open space amenity and wildlife loss are asking is this really the best place to build in Cinderford.

It is the local equivalent to building on the last piece of species rich tropical rainforest which would be considered outrageous. So why does our council who talk a lot about sustainability and green issues think it is acceptable to develop what is probably the most wildlife rich site in the whole of the Forest of Dean?

– Simon Glover.