I FEEL I should reply to the letter from Mrs Jones last week singing the virtues of our illustrious Conservative leaders here in the Forest of Dean.

The letter accused me of being a whinger and that the Conservatives had a master plan for the area that I and everyone else should blindly follow. Well, where do I start?

We live in a democracy and I believe that the views of all should be taken into account when making decisions that affect everyone in the area.

I stand up for the people in my ward and especially for the businesses that operate there and are suffering through the parking regime introduced in the village.

As meetings of the full council have agreed with me twice I would say I had a right to complain when this is ignored.

My problem with the current administration is their refusal to listen on some issues. On others, they have listened and for that, I applaud them.

In my opinion the parking charges were introduced at the wrong time for our local businesses, who were already struggling through a recession. I want us to be working constructively to help all our town centres to grow, not die.

I think we should have been working to help find ways of growing our local towns, creating town centres worth paying to park in and encouraging growth in them before we did anything that might damage them.

I am now part of an all party group looking into the local economy, a group I have been asking for since I was elected. I believe this should have been our first project. I will work with anyone, Conservative, Labour or alien to help safeguard the future of the area and the businesses and people that live and work in it.

I am also actively involved with local business networking groups, who look to promote local trade and keep money in the local economy. If what I do is whinging then I will keep on, as for the master plan...

Councillor Ian Whitburn