Dear Editor,The demolition of Cawdor arch in order to provide access for potential development of this site was turned down five years ago by Herefordshire Plan- ning following a rigorous local campaign and many objections.

A subsequent application consisting of a housing development but without the demolition of the bridge was submitted last year and withdrawn two months ago, again with many objections and unan- swered questions.

Now it has been re submitted with the arch to be removed, this time apparently for access by emer- gency vehicles. In my opinion this has nothing to do with access for emergency vehicles (who have used this access for the existing houses for years.) It is all about trying to make the site more attractive to potential developers, because let’s be honest, this site is NOT attractive to a developer due to the access, environmental, health and safety and topographical issues associated with it which have all been clearly highlighted in the previous applica- tion.

I am not a planning officer and I am not against appropriate developments, but I do have faith in our planning system, in that it will weigh up the pros and cons of every application and if an application, regardless of whatever charitable status it comes from, has fundamental flaws, it will continue to refuse planning and rightly so.

To lose Cawdor arch simply in the hope that it will make a fundamentally unsuitable site slightly more attractive for development, with no guarantee that the site will ever actually be developed, would be a travesty. There are already more than 20 objec- tions on the planning application, so please ensure your voice is heard by August 16th.

Alison Park

Ross-on-Wye