Letter: This proposed supermarket has little attraction for market town

Requirement: There is no requirement for this proposed supermarket.

Ludlow is already well-supplied with supermarkets for a town of about 10,000 inhabitants with Aldi, Tesco, Co-op, Harry Tuffins – as well as a Spar, and two more large convenience stores. It supports several butchers, greengrocers, bakers and delicatessens.

Petrol is available from Harry Tuffins and Overton Garage, and Craven Arms, Leominster, Tenbury and Leintwardine.

The claim of 250 jobs to be created by the development is spurious and was unsatisfactorily demonstrated by the developers at their presentation. Nor does it take into account the jobs that will be lost by local independent retailers being forced to close by reduced turnover.

Impact: If a supermarket at this site were to succeed, it could only so to the serious detriment of the town.

Ludlow is a very particular town, probably unlike any other that this developer has dealt with before, and it can claim to be truly unique in character.

It is vital that Ludlow retain its special and unique attractions, and does not become a host of multiple retailers that will make its streets the same as most other towns in Britain.

The developers claim that they will be helping the inhabitants of the east side of the town, which generally has a lower socio-economic profile.

It is unlikely people from these estates will choose to shop in Sainsbury's or Waitrose, which the developers cite as likely tenants for this site.

Broader planning considerations: There are many opposed in principle to the development of the east side of the bypass, since they believe that it will lead to an urban sprawl creep which will be uncontainable and damage the profile of the town as it is at the moment, seriously degrading its special character.

Peter Burden

Ludlow