Editor

You have headlined the proposed Aldi development in Park Avenue on the front page of your Aberystwyth edition of 10 December suggesting that there are high hopes of it proceeding.

I am concerned that both the developers and Ceredigion council’s planning department seem to be showing little regard for the environmental impact of the proposed store.

You have indicated that the Planning Inspectorate of the Welsh Parliament have called in the planning application because the council overruled Natural Resources Wales’ expert opinion that the application should be refused on the grounds that the location has an unacceptable flood risk, not only to the store itself but to surrounding properties.

The recently constructed flats overlooking the adjacent football ground have been built on stilts, with a car park on the ground floor to obviate the flood risk.

The planning application indicated that the car park surrounding the supermarket would be surfaced with impermeable black tarmacadam, which would obviously increase the risk of run-off to surrounding properties. It is not clear if CCC would insist on a sustainable drainage system as a condition of planning permission.

Evidence for climate change accumulates year-by-year and an increased risk of flooding is one of the features. There were flash floods at least 30cm deep in North Parade on 10 August this year.

Tree planting can help to obviate climate change, capture some pollutants and break up the outlines of ugly buildings.

An environmental assessment has to be submitted for any major planning proposal. That submitted with the latest Aldi application was out of date.

The assessors had been shown plans that show seven trees on the site. That had come down to one tree by the time the latest plans were submitted.

When challenged on this matter, the developers said the amount of infrastructure running in the ground alongside Park Avenue precluded the planting of more trees.

Despite this, CCC had managed to plant four new trees in the frontage of the Aldi site outside of the area marked on the plans as the development site and fenced off with blue boarding. Surprisingly the fencing in this area was moved some time between September 2018 and May 2020, to include these trees, behind the barrier , and so they could not be watered by council staff. As a consequence the tops of these trees have died.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused severe economic damage but is peanuts compared to climate change. You cannot vaccinate against climate change.

David Kirby Cae Melyn Aberystwyth

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