DFV asks Council to keep talking

The Forest's ongoing about the free­ roaming sheep could be resolved if the district council adopted a `sensible approach' and reconvened a committee set up to deal with the related issues, says pressure group Dean Forest Voice.

The organisation has requested details of the costs incurred by the council since a decision was taken to serve a legal notice on the Forestry Commission to control sheep. The Commission has appealed. Details of the costs will be revealed at Thursday evening's council meeting. A similar request has also been made by Cllr Alan Preest.

In a letter to the council's chief executive, Mr Tim Perrin, DFV's Mr Keith Morgan suggests it would now be a good time to reconsider taking legal action and instead reconvene the `sheep committee' with a mandate to resolve the issue within a specified length of time.

Mr Morgan says: "We believe that this is a sensible approach and would go a long way to resolving the ill-feeling and distrust that this action has generated between the interested parties." Mr Mick Holder, secretary of the Commoners' Association, said he believed there would be widespread interest in the costs the council had incurred. But, he said, he did not believe obtaining expensive Legal opinions would solve a thing. "Unfortunately there are those who are not interested in managing the free-roaming sheep. All they are interested in is removing them and if that remains the case we will make little or no progress," he said.