An open letter to Gloucestershire county councillors:

I find it unbelievable that Gloucestershire County Council has still not found a way to support the prolonged efforts of the community to enable environmental education to resume at the Wilderness Centre.

As a retired teacher who has taken two generations of children to the centre and learned with them in the most wonderful outdoor classrooms of the absolute necessity of maintaining a healthy, properly functioning natural environment, I, like other informed people, fear for our children's future.

As someone who taught at the centre also I have witnessed at first hand the unique value of the site, and the utter delight experienced by the children and have seen very many letters of appreciation and thanks from the visiting children and their teachers.

As a citizen who hates to see his rates frittered away while denying children knowledge of their inheritance, I feel it is legitimate to ask the council: "What the Dickens is going on?" County policy has reduced the centre from a shining beacon of excellence, a glittering jewel in the crown of Gloucestershire's education provision, to an empty, extremely expensive white elephant at more than £3,000 a week.

This, in blatant contradiction of the county's and the central government's major strategy of "helping communities help themselves."

Without centres like the Wilderness we are putting the future of our unique planet and wonderful natural world into the hands of a generation with no experience of the outdoors.

Perhaps councillors are comfortable with this situation! It fills me with dread! Do we really expect children who have no experience of the countryside to evaluate the importance of natural environments and ecosystems to grow into responsible citizens and voters or deal adequately with the numerous environmental problems they will undoubtedly inherit?

The need for residential environmental education in our country is beyond dispute and the demand is as strong as ever. That demand could best be met in Gloucestershire by using the Wilderness site which has been proven to be supremely suitable. It is indeed special!

As I see it there are several alternatives:

•Reinstate the centre as it was before closure. The centre was then a resounding success used by many county schools and community groups and even attracting schools from outside our county. The centre was always fully booked and the area fully utilised. It celebrated our county's green credentials – credentials it now appears to have abandoned.

•I understand the Board of the Wilderness Project is composed of highly committed, qualified people who want children to have the opportunity to discover the incredible natural world, to enjoy and respect it, appreciate it aesthetically, learn how it works and care for it that they may inherit a sustainable world. Perhaps the Board could be persuaded to take the Wilderness on for a token rent.

•In the spirit of Big Society transfer the entire assets of the Wilderness to the community. In 2010 Mr Cameron stated: "The time has come to disperse power more widely in Britain today making it easier for local people to take over the amenities they love and keep them part of local life". The Localism Act was introduced to facilitate Mr Cameron's intention.

In common modern parlance the issue is a "no brainer". Is the council prepared to ignore Mr. Cameron's aspiration, the Localism Act, even the overwhelming scientific evidence monitoring the breakdown of natural systems? Is the council prepared to ignore its own publicly stated strategy 2011-2015 to "support the transfer of buildings and other assets to community ownership?" Do councillors really want to take the responsibility of depriving our children of the knowledge and wonder of their own rightful inheritance? Are councillors happy to continue to consider our children and the magical, and vital, natural world as of no consequence? The best way to serve the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in Gloucestershire, today and for generations to come, is to re-open the Wilderness not sell it for a one-off cash receipt.

Finally, please do not dismiss this appeal out of hand. Cast aside the constraining bonds of political expedience and dogma. Engage your brains. Consult your hearts. Talk to your children and grandchildren. Make a decision to benefit the needs of our young people and the natural world, on which we all ultimately depend, and promote the future of both.

– B. Kear, Lydney.