I HAVE the greatest respect for Graham Morgan, he is a doughty fighter for Cinderford, but I would like to point out, once again, that if the empire building principal of the Gloucestershire College is allowed his way, it will mean the destruction of all the well-used public facilities at the Leisure and Sports Centre at Five Acres, leaving the people of the West Dean part of the Forest around Coleford with nothing.

The College and its facilities, including its superb restaurant will go; the Forest Theatre will go; the swimming pool will go; the gymnasium will go; the tennis courts, football and rugby pitches will go and as far as I can ascertain, there are no plans to replace them apart from with yet another housing estate which will add to the growing number of unsold houses in the Forest and the hundreds due to be built in Lydney and Coleford (how many will be genuinely affordable for first time buyers or for rent one wonders).

So the good people on my side of the Forest, including the local schools, will be left with journeys of several miles to enjoy a full range of sport and leisure facilities in Cinderford and Lydney, or even Monmouth, which is in another count(r)y; and I would like to bet on a cert that the Cinderford Sports and Leisure Centre will remain intact. So much for a green Forest. More fumes, more congestion, more accidents.

It is said that the college, which was rebuilt, refurbished and expanded when it took over from the 1968 grammar school buildings in the latter 1980s, plus the 'State of the Art' Speedwell' building, which is only a decade old, needs a £500,000 facelift and anyway the buses are better around Steam Mills; so why not build a new college/university on toxic land several miles away at the estimated cost of £14,000,000. Even Jolter would have trouble explaining that one away as a good idea. Also, won't the much-hyped spine road come out onto the same road that the Five Acres College is sited on, the A4136?

Cum off it, thee bist avin a laff bisn't?

So good ole Cindyvud gains at the expense of powre ole Colvud, which will be impoverished economically and socially even further. "Don't let's solve the problem of the regeneration of the Dean Forest, let's just shift it from one place to another." Now there's a great philosophy, worthy of our political times.

Also, I would like to make the small point that the worthy public Linear Park in Cinderford is actually already inside the boundary of the Statutary Forest of Dean, so swapping it for the land that will include 'Steam Mills University' (henceforth to be known as 'Steambridge') will not technically increase the acreage of the Forest one iota,but will actually diminish it. 'Sleight of hand' there, methinks.

Finally, I would like to congratulate our local district and county councillors for keeping their mouths firmly shut on this proposed vandalism, which will impoverish the west side of the Forest. Silly me, I thought you folks were elected to represent the interests of those who elected you. How naive of me; getting old and still the idealist.

By the way, as an afterthought, what is the FOD Council going to do with the Section 106 pot of £750,000 that its got in its coffers?

– John Belcher.