AS we're all aware, much of the Forest of Dean has been clear-felled on account of various tree diseases. The question is what do we plant as replacements?

At a recent conference of tree experts it was agreed that all the normal commercial species are prone to fatal diseases. A leading expert said that the only tree that was left was the yew.

Unfortunately following a visit to the Dutch gardens at Westbury the curator showed me that a virus had struck the magnificent yew hedges there and that they might well have to be replaced with something else.

My personal belief is that the main factor is air pollution. I recall the time during World War Two when every cotton town suffered black smogs from the mills.

Today when millions of vehicles are on the roads belching out destructive exhaust fumes all living things including ourselves are suffering.

I recall camping for a couple of weeks across Iceland. The air was pure and people there live longer than anywhere else.

Obviously discussions are taking place in high places about what to do with the forest. A decision will be reached and put out for consultation.

In my long experience in local government from the inside I have never known a consultation where the decision had not already been taken.

So forgive me if I come up with my own suggestion which will doubtless be regarded as totally crazy.

I feel we should clear most of the disease-prone trees and try to use this large forested area for something else.

At present this is legally impossible but whatever laws have been passed can be cancelled.

We have been informed that the Palace of Westminster, which houses the government, is obliged to make a complete restoration, or replacement, of much of the fabric.

The issue now is, where do the MPs, the noble Lords, the civil servants, and the great number of people who work looking after them actually go so the government of the country can carry on? I believe that the Houses of Parliament should be transferred to the Forest of Dean – for one thing as it is the property of the Crown it should cost nothing to use the land. According to MPs I have talked to the present building is not fit for purpose.

In just about every council chamber in the land, for instance, when you vote you just press one of three buttons.

In the House of Commons you have to go out into a crowded lobby and then queue to return with someone ticking your name off on a list; a process which is time wasting.

On the rare occasions when every member turns up, quite a few have to stand.

Scores of other irritating procedures are forced upon members by the 200-year-old vision.

The new German Parliament in Berlin designed by a British architect is quite magnificent in design and utility.

It is very difficult to provoke the rowdy shouting and jeering which characterises Westminster in the more relaxed and civilised deployment in Berlin.

Of course there would have to be a lot of accommodation created in which, one trusts, local firms would have priority.

I would argue for the creation of timber frame houses.

Our disease-threatened oaks would keep the cold out in winter and remain cool in hot summers, if they still exist.

There would need to be a new bridge across the Severn from near Lydney following more of less the old route of the old railway line and some of the truly attractive corners of the present Forest, should be preserved.

The Palace of Westminster provides one of the finest views in London and it would be very sad if Big Ben and the other iconic buildings made way for the temples of money.

Here, I suggest, that in the restored building we display priceless works of art at present stored in the vaults of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.

With modifications to the existing parliamentary buildings, they could provide one of the finest art galleries and museums in the world.

At present their absence from view is a cultural atrocity.

So I would like Mark Harper MP, the government's senior whip, to lead a local petition to bring Parliament closer to the people and where can this be achieved better than by siting it in the Forest of Dean?

– Roger Horsfield, Bream.