ANDREW Gardiner is a Forester passionate about the Forest of Dean. The area needs more people like him.

I was not at the meeting at which Andrew was said to have been badly treated by the Cabinet, leading to the fire alarm being set off. But who actually let this alarm off?

Perhaps it may not have been anyone in the group on the side of Cllr Gardiner. The person responsible should now own up and apologise.

It is a shame that we have five people who can get rid of such an important position as Forest Champion. It is a shame that we have councillors, some of whom are Foresters and others who have come to live here, who seem to love concrete - and a lot of it.

They give no thought to the wildlife or the environment. Perhaps it is just ignorance about of planet.

Once the forest or forest waste is cut into, the rest of the forest will follow.

To some it is exciting to build, build, build. They think it makes their political party look good; it makes their MP look good.

But to someone like me who believes we need trees to breathe and perhaps to even stop floods, the more trees we cut down the more disasters we will have.

There are some 'brown' sites for Asda. I can think of many. When Asda is built at Steam Mills there could be one very large 'brown' site – the town itself. I hope I am wrong, but I have seen it all before.

I will say we desperately need a Forest Champion as passionate as Cllr Gardiner as well as the young people who stood by him trying to save our woodland.

Those of you who want to save the badger please now look to saving their homes. It goes further than just a sett.

Those of you who have come to live in the Forest of Dean because of what it has to offer please help in this fight to save our forest from the concrete some councillors, and others, seem to love.

We can do so much more. There are many ways to create jobs for those who want to work and there are plenty of 'brown' sites to do it on. Just clean them up.

– Cllr Maria Edey.