Madam, It's a bit rich Justin King, CEO of Sainsbury's, criticising local shops "for failing to cater for the local population by not offering customer loyalty schemes" and that "high streets are a poor second to out of town shopping centres" and "should be shrunk" (Telegraph 12/2).

Sainsbury's, along with other supermarkets, are very clever at driving down the cost of goods from their suppliers, claiming to employ huge numbers of staff and claiming to bring wealth to a town centre. The truth is that much of the employment is only part time, suppliers are forced to produce in an unsustainable monoculture way, only a token amount of money is dished out locally (albeit accompanied by a great song and dance) and shops simply close down because they can't compete with the supermarkets slick marketing prowess. Sainsbury's are the seventh largest clothing retailer in the UK by volume. The result is a reduced choice and a further contribution to the "death spiral" of town centres.

Most people go to supermarkets because it is easy to park nearby and the prices are cheap. Ross town centre is difficult to park in, has an annoying one way system and too many charity shops.

Even the Ross Gazette's sister paper in Abergavenny reports a view that "the pedestrianisation of Abergavenny town centre was one of the worst decisions ever made".

Hereford Council has presided for years, encouraging the mess we have now, and it is high time they took more notice of independent retailers (and not just ART), shop landlords and the local community many of whom say nothing because "nobody listens".

Then they might find out what people really think and how much people really care about having a distinctive town with interesting shops and businesses that visitors and locals want to shop in.

Andrew Meek, Ross