FORMER county High Sheriff Brian Thornton is opposing the Hands Off Our Forest campaign.

Mr Thornton, chairman of the Forest's Conservative Association, supports Mark Harper and the Government's 'Big Society' suggestion of a community buy-out.

He said: "I would much rather see our efforts devoted to drawing together a group of people from the community with the necessary knowledge and expertise to manage the forest in the interests of local people... in place ready to take over as soon as Whitehall has decided what it requires."

In an email exchange with the chairman of Cinderford Town Council, Coun Graham Morgan, he said HOOF's "campaign to stop the Government carrying through its policy is divisive and unlikely to succeed.

"Please think again and join a constructive campaign to acquire the Forest for the benefit of local people."

Refusing to sign the petition against a Forestry sell-off, Mr Thornton wrote: "At present it is not 'our forest'. It is owned and managed by the Forestry Commission – an organisation based in London, where decisions are taken that have not always and may not in the future represent the wishes of local people."

Coun Morgan is part of the HOOF steering group, formed last week. It includes members of Dean Forest Voice, Friends of the Forest, Forestry Trade Unions, Local History Society, Freeminers' and Commoners' Associations, The Forester and Forest Review.