MADAM, Is it not time to abandon this official pretence that an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is a protected landscape and so relieve public-spirited citizens from the onerous duty of fighting a losing battle by attempting to protect and preserve it for future generations?
The decision by the Herefordshire County Council Planning Committee to support the soft fruit growers' policy of covering large areas of the once beautiful parish of Kings Caple with polytunnels and plastic, is truly lamentable. Their sycophantic desire to please by once again rubber-stamping retrospective planning applications must be reminiscent of medieval peasants clamouring to curry favour with their feudal lord.
The eight members who voted against the application displayed courage and independent thought in the face of pressure from the farming lobby.
The nine members who voted in favour of this application, in an eye-watering act of servitude to the fruit growing industry (despite professional planning officials recommending a refusal), would do well to reflect on how the impact of their decision will blight the lives of a considerable number of parishioners and their offspring.
The once breathtaking view to the north-west of Kings Caple church is now one of a sea of plastic. Property values will undoubtedly suffer. It is interesting to note that none of these enthusiastic supporters live anywhere near Kings Caple. Unfortunately, it would now appear that the areas concerned will be classified as brown field sites with all the development potential that the status implies.
Brian Thomas, Garway