MAY I return to the subject of Stourport Civic Centre and what seems to be the obsession of the local authority to knock down anything from the past, only to replace it with housing?

Some 55 years ago it was felt desirable to let the canals deteriorate into oblivion and our own council were hell bent on filling in the basins to be used as car parks.

Now the tide has turned and our built environment and history is the big tourist attraction, hopefully replacing our local industries and businesses of the past, thus helping to balance the budget and keep our taxes down.

As far as I am aware, the Civic Centre and the building accommodating our Police HQ, medical centre, fire station and library, are the only two public buildings in Stourport which represent the architecture of the 60s and 70s.

We are probably the only place to have a public building erected by our own local civil engineering company. They, too, are part of Stourport's history, having been established here some 150 years.

While I realise the appreciation of various styles of architecture is mainly a matter of personal taste, in 50 years from now visitors probably will still be able to see Georgian, Victorian and earlier architecture but, if the council have their way, there will be nothing in Stourport to represent later architecture of interest to visitors, only houses.

Hopefully, examples of 20s and 30s architecture will be represented by Morgan Matroc and Parsons Chain if they too have not been demolished.

I do ask all Stourport residents to write to the district council, or their own councillors, to ensure the retention of the Civic Centre and its proper use as the HQ of the local authority.

I cannot think of a better site within Wyre Forest, with its commanding view of the Severn Valley, and I am sure we would be the envy of many other authorities.

TERRY GREEN

Windermere Way

Stourport