Letter to the Editor: THERE are so many unanswered questions regarding the sudden closure of Lydney Harbour piers, but the first that springs to mind for me is, whatever happened to democratic process?

I could say the same for other recent decisions made over our heads and closed-door forums full of unaccountable vested interests which have a major impact on our locality, environment and wellbeing: the majority of Foresters wanted to retain and improve our NHS hospital provision, but the hospitals miners and Foresters paid for and built through subscription will soon be offered to developers, if they haven’t been already.

Let us hope people will be listened to by the Forestry regarding Cannop Ponds, as our views were disregarded by the NHS Trust.

Meanwhile, public toilets have been vandalised periodically since I can remember, yet a closed-door decision was made by our elected council to close this service on this basis - as if it’s a new, unresolvable problem.

Now comes the revelation from the EA (Enivronment Agency) that there may be a risk of falling from Lydney Harbour – as indeed there is at every harbour, off every bridge (if there have been any fatalities at Lydney Harbour, they must be far less than the Severn Bridge).

Will the bridge footpath be closed in the light of this?

Besides, how can this toothless body be trusted when they do so little to stop sewage destroying our rivers and beaches, and were making the case on behalf of their oil-agarchical masters that fracking posed minimal risk?

The EA’s “place manager” claims this decision to fence us off from our shared heritage, ancient monument, common property and meditative views, was taken in consultation with the district council – yet councillors say they were not informed. He also seems to think he has the last word on this, and I feel he is very much mistaken here.

Your article states that the Environment Agency is the owner of the site. But the EA is a governmental body – it is the custodian of our public property, just as Forestry England is not the owner of the Forest (we all are), but the steward.

If ownership had been transferred to the eel magnate Richard Cook, as a district council document from 2020 stated Lydney Harbour was in the process of being, then it would be private property.

The public are in the dark about whether a privatisation process is still underway, and whether this “risk assessment” has been carried out for this purpose.

Or perhaps the transfer has fallen through?

Who knows, and who will tell us?

Do we locals matter to these decision-makers, and are our elected representatives also being bypassed in the decision-making?

So many questions, so few answers. But we should all bear in mind one certainty – that this is our harbour, as it is our Forest.

They do not belong to the managers but the people.

The EA does not have the right to act so proprietorial.

The same might be said for the NHS, but I bear witness that the decisions to sell our hospitals to the highest land bidders and build one half the size on a public recreation area were made by trust board members in Armani suits with none or little connection to the Forest.

These gates are an affront to democracy and our public property rights. I urge everyone to sign the petition at change.org.

Owen Adams, Coleford