What the Western Gateway means to the Forest of Dean is the topic of an online forum being hosted by Business West next Monday (May 24).

To attend the free event (10-11.30am), register here.

The Western Gateway is a cross-border economic partnership of local authorities, city regions, local enterprise partnerships and central government in England and Wales.

It stretches from Swansea to Swindon and Weston-super-Mare to Tewkesbury.

Chaired by the organisation's Gloucestershire director Ian Mean, the free event will examine its impact on the Forest.

Western Gateway chair Katherine Bennett will be joined on the panel by Forest of Dean District Council leader Councillor Tim Gwilliam, Versarien chief executive Neill Ricketts - who chairs the Forest Economic Partnership - Rural Technologies Ltd managing director Andrew Callard and Punchline-Gloucester.com editor Mark Owen.

Mr Gwilliam said: "This meeting comes at an exciting time for the Forest of Dean which has seen its business economy really expand and its communities working well together during the Covid pandemic.

"We have supported our tourism and it is now going through the roof. At one point, I believe we were up 400 per cent.

"The Forest is the gateway between two nations and a number of counties. I think it should be at the very epicentre of the Western Gateway."