I, FOR one was not very happy, when the deputy leader Councillor Edwards accused members who signed the letter of carrying out a despicable and venomous attack on the leader Councillor Peter Amos.

I think something has been missed here. and that is the dishonesty of the leader, Coun Amos. I signed the letter only because of the dishonesty.

Coun Amos has been an officer with the Royal Marines and now a leader at the Forest of Dean District Council. Surely, in both these positions of trust, leadership etc, when he said that he would only be an observer and made this promise, then did the complete opposite it was immoral. It was wrong, to put it plainly.

How can we now trust this person to carry on as leader? I cannot. I don't even want to be in the same room as Coun Amos and some of his members.

This all started and we have to remember that Coun Gardiner put in a motion that some members, including the public, such as Forest Voice, HOOF and the like, should present this motion to the House of Lords. The reason? To stop the 'sell off of our Forests'. Coun Amos and his Conservative group, except for one, went against this motion. It was so obvious that Coun Amos was in favour of the 'sell off'.

When he did get to speak to the BBC at Westminster he indicated that everything was fine and there was no problem with the sell off.

Coun Amos does not appear to like the Forest of Dean very much.

I am wondering why he lives in this part of the UK, with so many trees around him. I understand his 'chill-out' time is on his yacht. For others it is taking a walk through the Forest, with or without the dog. If the world keeps chopping down the Forests Coun Amos will soon have a mooring outside his back door.

This is my place of birth. I think that even if a charitable trust takes over the Forest, no one knows what will happen if the Government opens the door for a takeover. However, charitable trusts do need to raise money to keep going, one way or the other.

You, Coun Amos have just lost more members from your group. Why? Ask yourself.

He claims he has turned this council around from a failing one. What! All by himself?

You only have to sit in a full council and observe, you would wonder how this could happen. So why do we employ staff? The officers, on such high wages? The task groups, with other district councillor members, who spend so much time on these groups. What a way to save money. This council needs no other, except Coun Amos, this man can do it all by himself. Perhaps this is what the deputy leader believes; they do work well together.

I will finish and leave the residents with one thought. I left the Conservative group because of the despicable and venomous attack made against the members of the Conservative group by their own members. It was believed that it was the previous leader who drove me out. This was not the case, although there were issues.

It was because of some members in the Conservative group, including Coun Amos and Coun Edwards. I could stand it no longer. All the despicable and venomous attacks against the members made behind their backs. So please do not accuse members, who are passionate about the Forest, of being despicable and venomous. If you felt the same way as I, and other residents do, you would know how we all feel.

Coun Maria Edey

An Independent