HANDS Off Our Forest (HOOF) has written to all the local candidates standing for election on May 7 asking them to pledge allegiance to HOOF's aims. 

Sixty six people standing at district council level have so far signed and four of those hoping to become the next Forest of Dean MP have signed (guess which one hasn't).

HOOF's aims are admirable: calling for continued public ownership of the Forest, adequate funding, and special status for the Forest of Dean.

What shouldn't escape attention, however, is the minority who have signed but have relentlessly pursued the Cinderford Northern Quarter project.

A large part of this development is to be built on the public forest estate. The plot extends around the shore of Steam Mills Lake, considered by many to be one of the prettiest lakes in the Forest and an area described by Gloucestershire Wild­life Trust as 'the most important site for wildlife ever to come forward for development in Gloucestershire'.

To be able to build on this part of the Forest, the council swapped land with the Forestry Commission, most notably the Linear Park.

Hardly a fair exchange and, as this land was already open to the public, the net result has been a significant loss of publicly accessible land around Cinderford.

To be fair, HOOF has remained neutral on this issue. In pledging to protect the Forest of Dean, however, those who are also responsible for selling off chunks of it are displaying quite breathtaking double standards.

Am I being sceptical or is there an election coming?

– Shauna Gwynne, Lydney.