AS I came down through Ledbury this morning and saw the beautiful Leadon Valley spread out before me backed by the orchards and woodland of Wall Hills, it seemed impossible to believe that within the next few months, this view will also include the garish green faade of a Homebase store.

Surely we should be relying on our planners to protect us? Pettifer Estates may see this incursion as "a real feather in the cap for Ledbury" (Ledbury Reporter, November 28) but if it is, it is surely a white feather for our planners who did not have the courage to stand up for the preservation of our community.

Ledbury traders are right to fear the effects of this new store. I know of a market town in the north-east where planning permission for a new supermarket has been refused at government level on the grounds that it would become 'another Leominster'.

Do we need similar notoriety for Ledbury? The town already has two builders' merchants, both of whom have been taken over and expanded within the past year and who also serve the public. It also has excellent hardware, DIY. and electrical stores, which are often cheaper and always carry more variety than the 'own brand' chain stores, as well as offering helpful advice and cheerful service for free!

We have Countrywide for our garden needs and the Secret Garden for plants as well as four or five other garden centres and nurseries within 20 minutes' drive. How can we possibly need another megastore, unless, of course, this is only to be the beginning of a 'Three Counties' retail park. What next, PC World, Currys?

Increased traffic will come through the town, which certainly won't help tourism and will further add to the 'motorised musical chairs' in Bridge Street; families and dog owners will find trying to cross the bypass to the Town Walk even more dangerous.

The creation of part-time, low-paid jobs, in an area where stores already have difficulty in filling their existing vacancies, will not offset the work and livelihoods destroyed as Homebase creams off custom from our own traders.

So often, wrong-headed decisions like this one are allowed to go through because we all think 'someone else' will surely stop it.

Unfortunately, this is seldom the case and our own apathy allows the developers to get away with actions that can be disastrous for small towns like our own.

We should ask that the planners think again before they encourage this development further and encourage the civic organisations in our town such as the Independent Traders Association, the Ledbury in Bloom Committee, the Ledbury Society and others, to help in reversing this decision before it is too late.

Jill Haiselden, Massey Road Ledbury.