I HAVE heard councillors and others say the wildlife can relocate and that there was no uproar when the Valley Road Industrial estate was built.

At that time before foot and mouth and the loss of sheep grazing from the Soudley Valley and Cinderford Linear Park there were a number of good wildlife sites all making multiple interlinked colon­ies of habitats which are now very much degraded due to habitat change brought on by lack of sheep grazing.

In open areas of the Forest where there has been no grazing for a dozen or more years you now have three-metre high ash and alder with an understorey of brambles and bracken where there was once open space or easily walked paths.

Habitat loss has also happened on many old mining and industrial sites such as Lightmoor, Shakemantle, Foxes Bridge and Bilson Halt which have all suffered to various degrees from the effects of habitat change brought on by lack of grazing.

The Northern Quarter because of it's poor soils, numerous ponds and regular clay extraction has remained as the one beacon for habitat-specific wild­life in the Cinderford basin.

It is the last place that is such a hotspot for wildlife. 

There is such an outcry from all the environmental and heritage groups because they realise what we would lose if the Northern Quarter site is built upon.

The loss of wildlife habitat which took decades to develop would be so great that there is likely to be a considerable loss of species in spite of any mitigation put forward.

For example the site has a newly established colony of wood white butterfly where the latest spine road position is planned.

This is one of the UK's fastest declining species  with only fifty sites left in existence so concreting over its breeding site is not going to help its survival.

The Northern Quarter has many mature habitats in a small area which is why it contains over 1,300 species of wildlife as recorded by the wildlife groups over the last few years.

There are other sites actually in Cinderford that need developing and improving rather than a large project a mile down the road which will destroy one of the reasons that makes Cinderford unique.

The council should be embracing this fantastic resource of wildlife on their doorstep rather than adding to the species loss.

It takes a little effort to visit the Steam Mills ponds area and grassland but it is worth it to get away from the modern world and spend a summer's day with the place alive with the hum of insects.

Unfortunately our current council does not see it this way.

Having spent 25 years wildlife recording in the Dean and seeing the massive reduction in species over that time I think it will be a sad day when our children do not have the chance to see a wood white or a pearl bordered fritillary if they want to on their doorstep.

What right do we have to deprive them of the opportunity and make the world a greyer place by driving a spine road through its heart.

– Simon Glover, Two Bridges.