I HAVE written to Mr Stewart, head of planning at the Forest of Dean District Council, to object to the conversion of 77, High Street from commercial premises into private flats. This building has only been vacant for a few months and I feel should have been retained as a commercial property.

I used to live in the lower part of the High Street – there was a Post Office/general store, an off-licence and a barber shop. All of these are now gone, turned into bedsits. This latest shop could turn out to be the thin edge of the wedge.

Cinderford is slowly developing into 'bedsit land' and I feel that if shops like this are continually converted there will be an adverse effect on the town's livelihood. We will be known not for our shops but for the lack of them.

My mother comes from Lydney and when she was younger Cinderford had a good reputation for shopping, even rivalling Gloucester. I'm not just objecting to this one shop conversion but to all. We need good shops and I feel more should be done to convince people that Cinderford has a prosperous future and to encourage businesses to come here not just to the industrial park but into Cinderford centre itself.

There are three other shops vacant on the High Street – will they too be converted. We need shops not bedsits on our main roads. We are trying to attract tourism and the money that it brings, but driving through Cinderford I wouldn't feel encouraged to stop. What about the other empty shops on the Triangle – they are all in prime retail spots?

The one next to Lloyds Bank has been vacant for years – it is in a shocking state and my cynical side wonders if that isn't a prelude to conversion or more likely demolition (something is going on there and I'm sure the people of Cinderford will be the last to know!)

The answer is simple – stop the conversions, bring down the business rates and encourage the small businessman that Cinderford is the place to be. Someone must take Cinderford in hand and do it now before there is nothing left but bedsits and dole queues.

I hope this letter does some good but again my cynical side doubts it! – Vanessa Stratford, Hastings Road, Cinderford.