NO-ONE disagrees with the presence of small working quarries and yes, they can be part of the same equation as tourism, but when does a small quarry become a big one?

Dr Hall (Letters, March 30) quite rightly worries about the size of Stowe Hill. Stowfield Quarry is a huge hole in the AONB north west of Coleford twice the size of Stowe Hill. The operators have made an application to increase production (and therefore truck movements) to almost double its present level.

Mrs Hall also said in her letter that it took our laid back county council officers 13 years to apply the rules about lorry sheeting. For some years now this Action Group has been trying to get the authorities to focus on potentially grave issues related to groundwater problems at Stowfield. Nothing to do with us, they say.

It may be boring to talk about responsibility, but the real point of my letter last week was to warn that if this duty is not taken seriously by those involved in quarrying and its control, we may wake up one day to find our visitors have gone elsewhere. Goodbye tourism, goodbye £40m. Then what?

I have a feeling the rare bats might be smarter than the rest of us after all. – John Mason, secretary, Crossways and Scowles Action Group for Fairness in Quarrying.