IT must be a terrible shock for all the good people who campaigned so tirelessly to save the Forst of Dean from being sold off when all the time our so-called local guardians were planning to do the same thing. What hypocrisy.

This council signed up with great fanfare to the Forestry Panel. They even took a delegation to London, stating a commitment to preserve and protect this unique area. They sang from the roof tops about their wholesale commitment to the cause, yet here they are proposed to do just the opposite.

Save the Forestry Commission these good people of HOOF said. What a good job the Forestry Commission do, proclaimed these well-meaning people. Oh yes, they were doing a good job alright, they were all the time conniving with the local council to pick holes in the law governing our Statutory Forest and so ensuring it was F.C. who gained in selling off hundreds of acres of our Forest.

The planners and the Cabinet think the Government-appointed inspector in his report has given them the green light to carry on with this project. He has not. Councillors should read this report without the blinkers that the so-called planners and officers have brow-beaten them into wearing.

Mr Councillor, when you vote to adopt or not to adopt this plan, just stop for a minute and contemplate some joined-up thinking.

This plan will mean getting rid of and demolishing Five Acres College. That means the theatre, the swimming pool, the restaurant, the gymnasium etc, facilities extensively used by pupils from other schools and members of the public on this excellent site that itself was carved out of Forest land.

What about our local brass bands such as the excellent and enterprising Lydbrook Band who use the theatre regularly to stage their wonderful fund-raising concerts, the twice yearly superbly arranged dance shows staged by "Bogie Nights Dance Academy" that features hundreds of local children, the Local Youth Awards ceremony, the annual Forest Faddle and the many, many other concerts and shows arranged throughout the year – where will they go?

The nearest theatre in Gloucestershire will then be in Cheltenham. So when you vote Mr Councillor, stop and contemplate! What will all these people think of you?

– I.G. Ellis, Lower Milkwall.