RETIREMENT homes are much-needed and what better than having one in Ledbury situated in lovely park-like grounds and on the edge of a green area.

But when we come to look at the building proposed for this delightful site in which retired people will have to live and pay dearly for, is it going to be so sublime after all?

Who wants to live in a tenement block, pushed to the road edge with constant traffic passing below? Who wants to sit in a north-facing garden in the shade? Tall buildings make long shadows. The building should be much, much lower and further back so the grounds are in the sun and residents can look out on a gardened vista with a feeling of space in front of them.

As for those on the other side of this giant monstrosity, those living in close proximity will feel the Berlin Wall has been re-erected. It will be as a great bunion in the midst of glorious landscape. Children going to school will be walking under a towering wall instead of a blossoming hedge, watching the birds hopping in and out and collecting wild flowers to take to class.

All this ugliness is going to affect the hundreds and hundreds of people who live in this town, not just for today but for tomorrow and the day after. People matter and people should come first.

S S BRIERLEY, Orchard Lane, Ledbury.