THE latest edition of South Shropshire Matters - Direct from your District Council has been posted through every letterbox in the district.

It has been relaunched in glossy form, the aim being to make it more appealing and more interesting. These are laudable objectives.

But it lacks balance. The publication is self-congratulatory in tenor, which is understandable, since human beings are responsible for its production. But it fails to express contrition, where such an expression is apposite.

The leader of the council fails to make apology or even convey regret, to Diane, Judith, Bella, Carolyn, Joyce, Sandra, Louise, Angela, Georgina, John, Jim, Andy, Wayne, Oliver, Philip, Les, Andrew, Alan, John and Daniel, all of whom lost their employment at the Kwik Save store in Ludlow.

The store's ultimate closure was a direct result of the Tesco supermarket having taken up a position in the town with the leave of the district. It courts the big battalions but does it care for the little ones?

South Shropshire Matters proclaims that one of the district council's four priorities is regeneration.

Kwiksave in Ludlow was at the heart of the town. The store was at the centre of the community. Its atmosphere of friendly, but efficient, intimacy pervaded the premises due to the efforts of the staff.

It provided more than a source of comestibles and essential commodities for the community, it afforded all the advantages of a social centre.

With the departure of Kwiksave, fewer people appear to visit the town centre on a daily basis. The centre has taken on a run down appearance. An atmosphere of dilapidation prevails.

Elsewhere in South Shropshire Matters the leader of the council is reported as having said: "We want to find out what local people really think . . . and want to make sure that all voices in our community have a chance to be heard." Such an utterance induces cynicism. The overwhelming majority of local people and local organisations were against the proposal for an ECO business park at Sheet Road North, in which only Occam Solutions and Premier Medical appear to have an interest.

SSDC is now busily engaged in the creation of a business park outside the town's well established boundaries to the detriment of the town centre, its ordinary people and retailers.

The last four people named in the second paragraph of this letter, Andrew (the owner), Alan, John and Daniel ran the butcher's shop (within a shop) in Kwik Save. What price (and chances of success of) a butcher's shop in the wasteland of a business park outside the town's boundaries?

Paul Nicholls,

Dinham, Ludlow.