Nothing left to preserve
I am writing concerning two letters in the Cornish Times on July 2. The subject was a Tesco Store in Looe.
The letter in favour was from a local, the letter against was from a person I did not recognise as a local.
Looe's beautiful estuary was ruined in the early '60s, as any local will tell you, when Trenant Woods were cut down, followed by the railway station being demolished, replaced by a police station and health centre.
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The Mill Pool got smaller to make way for a large over-priced car park, shop fronts in the town were modernised and cottages turned into cafes.
Looe is now a town of gift shops in between cafes and other fast-food outlets. Sitting in the middle is one ridiculously small, so- called 'supermarket' where you can't swing a cat, let alone a shopping basket.
The character is long gone; the only thing left is an ever- increasing population of seagulls.
We now live in Swindon, only a stone's-throw from the Cotswolds. If you want to see 'natural, ageless beauty', go there.
No one will deny Tesco will want to make a profit, but the jobs it will create will be of more benefit to the town than the preservation of the rusty corrugated shed it will replace.
The old Looe Council and Caradon have a very poor record of protecting unique buildings and sites if the price is right.
If the lady wants an example of their taste, she can see the railway-type building that masquerades as a bowling clubhouse at Hannafore. Now, that really is something to gaze upon.
MR G T E DUKE
Swindon