CONCERNING the Cinderford Spine Road, I see the company that was doing the test drilling at Northern has pulled out. I wonder why?

Are planners aware of the problems from open cast workings, experienced in Durham, where houses have had to be demolished because of subsidence? The proposed houses at Northern Quarter would surely experience the same problems. Those proposed alongside the lakes would be situated on top of the great backfill mounds formed when the lakes were dug out.

On top of this nightmare scenario are the added dangers of the underground lagoon as detailed by coalfield mining surveyor, Paul Morgan, who is a leading authority in this particular area. His paper, commissioned by the Head Verderer, Robert Jenkins, warns of the dire consequences that can be expected if this area were to be built upon.

Meeting the stringent specifications for filling old mine workings is complex and astronomically expensive. The recent collapse of Old Duck workings is a timely example of the tangible dangers of any development attempted over converging seams. Therefore, to risk investing in the area through construction would be a truly foolish move. Irrespective of the thickness of the buildings' foundations, albeit constructed on costly concrete rafts, they are still essentially suspended within a spongy matrix over the seasonally fluctuating underground lagoon.

I am basing my concerns on the mining report, concerning the whole wildlife site running parallel with the Hawkwell enclosure where a number of coal seams are situated.

The seams of coal around Forest Church were excluded from being mined because of the obvious dangers of subsidence.

Furthermore, the Coal Board would not deep mine there because of moving clay.

One only has to look at the Waterloo flood and what happened on the Pludds. Has this disaster been considered or noted by the planners?

With the obvious and potentially fatal risks facing future occupants of the proposed developments, I can only conclude that only the most irresponsible individuals and authorities would even contemplate building in this area.

Maurice V Bent

Ruardean Hill