IT should be apparent to most people in the Forest of Dean right now, that Mr Mark Harper most certainly does not have the best interests of this constituency at heart. The danger at the moment, I feel, is in people concentrating unduly upon him and his failing rather than on the real matter at hand, which is, of course, the proposed sell off of our land. The realities regarding Harper are very easy to understand. He is clearly a young politician with hopes and dreams of a long career. He's already almost certainly been 'noticed' in the higher offices of the Conservative Party as a good 'Tory lad' who could go far.

To that extent, he's quite probably already been promised a safer seat to fight in the election. All he has to do down is to keep his star shining brightly in Central Office by making what his superiors perceive to be a 'reasonable stab' at carrying 'party and whip' policy in the face of his constituents opposition. That done, I hope everyone is prepared for him to make an abrupt 'about face' (under direction yet again from Central Office) much closer to the moment of truth, in the (hopefully) vain hope that we'll all 'forgive and forget' come the next election. I, it should go without saying, fervently hope and trust that we shall not be so fickle and foolish.

Now on to the more serious matter in hand, the proposed sell off.

Let us be in no doubt of this. This Government has, as have many before them, once again opened up the cupboard to see what can be sold off to address the age-old and ever present problem of their mismanagement of the nation's finances. The cupboard however, ladies and gents, is now looking a little bare. So, their eyes have fallen upon the forests of this area and further afield around the country. Let us be in doubt of their intentions and be absolutely in no doubt whatsoever of what any corporate businessman's intention will be towards these forests.

No one, especially in the present economic climate, is going to lay down good money for a piece of land and then be told what they can and can't do with it. Without doubt, clauses are at this very minute being contemplated somewhere in government offices that will be offered to any such buyer that will enable them to manipulate and eventually evade any manner of restrictions placed upon the land that is sold.

A version of this will almost certainly happen here.

Let's imagine a likely scenario.

A 'front' company will buy the Forest and give assurances that they will do nothing harmful. This company will swiftly sell the land on. This could, in fact, happen a number of times, at least until the ownership is nicely blurred and is quite possibly in the hands of an offshore company. This company will challenge the restrictions placed upon it through our own courts and some slick barristers will make a nice sum of money arguing their case in the High Court where, eventually, albeit very quietly, the restrictions will be found to be unlawful and the company will be given the go ahead to do as they please. After all, this is a free country and no government of a 'free country' likes to restrict the good honest business of making money do they?

In the Forest of Dean it's as well to bear in mind that we have a particular threat hanging over us. Despite the fact that our own deep collieries closed many years ago, there is as any old miner will tell you, an awful lot of coal still under the Forest. This coal is uneconomic to win by traditional methods but, it could relatively easily be won in a profitable manner by open casting.

There is one area I have been told by many ex miners, where the coal still lies in particular abundance and, coincidentally, this area would be ideal for such open casting. I'm talking about the general area enclosed within the Stapledge Enclosure, leading towards the Speech House, back towards the Yew Tree Brake Cemetery and on to the Mallards Pike/Blakeney Straits woods. This is a huge tract of land and one of the biggest unbroken pieces of forest here in the Dean.

Can you imagine opencast on this land to the sort of scale they regularly see in the United States? Plus, of course, there is the added bonus of a good few quids worth of timber to be cleared first, and that's not even mentioning also clearing out all the animals such as deer and boar, after all certain individuals in our society still think it's worth good money to have a hunting licence for private ground. Either way you cut it, it wouldn't be a bad investment for someone, even if it does take you maybe 20 years or so to get the necessary planning permission.

So let's be focused on this. Harper is not the main target. I've got nothing against removing him from office at all and I'd dearly love to see a 'real proper' Forester take this seat, but the sale of land is the main issue and whatever Harper's attitude and stance may be now, or at any time in the future, opposing this proposed sale, by all means and methods open to us, is what we all need to concentrate on.

– Bob Smith, Fairways Avenue, Coleford.