N his recent letter to the Review, Alan Beddis asked why I had not arranged a referendum on the boar cull.

Can I just confirm that, in 2014, I did try to get the Forestry Commission to fund just such a referendum.

I felt that the result of this referendum would have given them the public support they claimed that they need to instigate a meaningful cull of the feral pig population.

Unfortunately, they refused to fund this piece of work.

Sorry, Alan, but I did try.

– Cllr Richard Leppington (UKIP), Forest of Dean District Council, Bream.