MUCH of my early life education was associated with Cinderford and it grieves me to see the town itself being left to wither on the vine.

While this aspect is soul destroying, we are further expected to remain silent while its lifeline the Linear Park and 'jewel in its crown' is proposed for burial under concrete.

What is so ludicrous, is the fact that the proposed development in the Northern Quarter, can easily be achieved elsewhere around the town. Local councillors really don't have to yield to the strings of MP Mark Harper and his Conservative entourage – they nigh on buried the Dean in 2011. Whatever they offer, the price is too high with any loss of the Forest of Dean woodlands and freedoms.

Over Christmas and New Year, forces have continued to scheme away. Even access to the Northern United Miners' monument has now been violated and fenced. It appears that the visitors' footway constructed inside the amphibians screen is up for another land grab, simply because it is in the way of the spine road.

Is this yet another ransom strip? At the same time a planning application has been submitted westward towards Brierley for a third bat hotel. How these aberrations can regenerate Cinderford is beyond me.

Below are but a few reasons why the Northern Quarter must be left for the public enjoyment and wildlife:-

1) In my view extended development within the Statutory Forest of Dean, concerning sales of woodland which contravenes the 1967 Forestry Act as amended in 1981, which prohibits the sales of such tracts of forests and woodland.

2) Contravenes and diminishes through loss of access to grazing land vested with commoners rights and freedoms.

3) The loss and sterilisation of mineral rights if the Cinderford Northern Quarter scheme goes ahead is clearly a serious loss of hard won and unique rights establish in the Royal and Statutory Forest on behalf of the future Foresters who wish to take up freeminers' rights.

4) Huge loss of public amenity and recreational and health facilities associated with the loss of huge tracts of the Cinderford Linear Park.

5) The destruction of much of a key wildlife site (one of the richest wildlife areas in the Forest of Dean and Gloucestershire).

6) The loss of culture and tourism opportunity associated with the last complete set of heritage mining buildings, at Northern United.

7) There will be catastrophic and detrimental impact on plants, birds, rare butterflies, moths, protected great crested newts, lizards, adders, slow worms, a European-importance lesser Horseshoe bat roost, dormice, return of the water vole, etc.

8) The whole Northern Quarter is a nationally important myrmecological (for ants) site unpinning the food chain development of such a wide variety of wildlife . This arose essentially because of the poor subsoils which has led to colonisation by various ant species on a vast scale. Therefore further interference by development of this sensitive site will lead to the total destruction of thousands of ant hills amounting to a cataclysmic wiping out of all the key wildlife sites, which the District Council is responsible for monitoring in the first place. I have pleaded with the district planners to respect this essential aspect which was initially surveyed and recorded by Mr Robert Godfrey who introduced the 'blue wildlife designations' and later by Brian Cave association with this very special area.

9) The irony remains that the last administration of district council took the lead with a delegation to the House of Lords and Parliament to totally oppose the proposed woodlands and forest sale – and now we have the ludicrous and hypocritical situation where the council is supporting huge sales/exchanges of land – totally against the spirit and recommendation presented to the Government by the Independent Forestry Panel.

10) The scandalous use and waste of taxpayers' money based on schemes without planning permissions – based on the presumption that the district will sanction its own proposals, albeit that these schemes are being promoted through a regeneration agency which they have an integral part. This aspect can not be used as mitigation or to absolve the District Council should they continue to process the beginning and the end of the spine road in isolation, because they are essentially pre-empting their planning responsibility for whole road at a later date. This is not only irresponsible, but also a waste of taxpayers' money.

11) Finally, even as I write, I can report that the public have been barred as individuals and collectively from entering Northern United site for access to the Miners' Memorial. Recently I have three times tried to use this access because the external signposted route has been fenced off and while I tried to push through rows of gorse bushes taller than myself.

Eventually I came to a painful halt. One can only presume that this revered memorial has become the latest victim of legal arrangements concerning land ownership and the prospect of revenue (sale of public land).

– Andrew Gardiner (Cllr), Ruardean.