Cornish life is now under threat from supermarket

A NEW Sainsbury's for Hayle?

A very generous gesture. Except of course it's not.

More like "another massive supermarket with an even bigger car park and another petrol station to maximise our profits and to hell with all those who

08/07/2009 15:32

NEW Sainsbury's for Hayle?

A very generous gesture. Except of course it's not.

More like "another massive supermarket with an even bigger car park and another petrol station to maximise our profits and to hell with all those who oppose the proposal".

The eagle-eyed among you will notice my address is Angarrack. This is where I have chosen to live for the last 25 years.

For the benefit of those who don't really know the area (including all those nice men from Exeter and beyond who amassed like harbingers of doom in the Passmore Edward's Institute last weekend), Angarrack is a village. It is not, and never should be in my opinion, a periphery of Hayle town.

If this or other developments go ahead, then all that will separate us will be a couple of fields which will soon fall prey to "affordable housing" or yet more industrial or retail units, regardless of assurances of various five- or 10-year plans. There are obvious problems associated with building a supermarket in this location.

For example, the increase in traffic which is already a potential hazard for emergency vehicles, as well as a pain in the backside for Angarrack residents, and the increased risk of flooding associated with more acres of tarmac covering the natural sponge-like qualities of the fields adjacent to Marsh Lane.

These are problems the civil engineers can work out with a pencil. What though about the human cost? Our quality of life? The impact on our environment?

Why build on a site that will destroy a country lane where swallows swoop, warblers sing and blackthorn blossoms announce the seasons; and render it down into a canalised, sprawling suburban street? Apparently surveys have revealed that there are no rare plants or animals on this precious patch of land but rarity is not the only prerequisite for protection.

This is not just a field under threat here but a whole village and with that the compromising of traditional Cornish life.

ANDREW PHILLIPS

Angarrack