AS a south Shropshire lover, who has spent at least one week and sometimes two on holiday in your beautiful area every year since 1988, I was interested to read of the prospect of a £7.5million development on the former auction yard at Craven Arms.

But I hope those who grant planning consent will be more aware of the lively appearance of the proposed buildings than those who gave the nod to the retail outlets on the west side of the A49.

When I first noticed this complex, I immediately thought of TV newsreel shots of Serbian military strong points during the 1990s Balkan wars. Craven Arms deserved better than this.

As a well-wisher, I very much sympathise with the need to breathe new economic life into the town, and to create more employment, but I hope there will be some consideration of another priority - to improve the local environment, which can also result in new jobs by making the area more attractive to inward investors.

On my most recent visit, I was appalled by another eyesore, the corrugated iron shack which boasts a Vote Labour sign in Corvedale Road, hardly a Temple of Socialism for the New Jerusalem. Surely the local party is not in such a demoralised state that it cannot afford a pot of paint, a few sheets of glass, a bit of putty and a few hours of voluntary labour on a Saturday to tart up the place? The shops across the road are doing their best to put on a good front but they are let down by this 'scarecrow' which, regrettably, could be interpreted as suggesting a lack of civic pride.

Peter Saunders,

Hoylake, Wirral.