Madam,

I wonder if Roger Payne (letters last week) would feel the same contempt for those of us who are concerned about the proposed Llanbedr bypass if he ran a retail outlet or pub in the village rather than operating his business from a start-up unit in Harlech?

On the other hand, I certainly welcome Fred Jeffrys’ reassurances (also letters last week) that Tremadog has survived a bypass, but then that community is, as it has always been, a suburb of Porthmadog, and not in any way comparable with Llanbedr.

To see what a bypass can do to a rural community, then Clynnog Fawr is the place to go. The excellent and historic coaching inn, that for a century and more served as a hotel, pub and attraction for the village, closed soon after the bypass was completed. A shop lingers on dependent on Murco continuing to sell petrol from its forecourt according to recent planning documents.

If you stand in the now deserted main street, you can enjoy the constant roar of traffic bypassing the village – and what it once had to offer – at high speed. Before the bypass was built there were requests for a 40mph limit to reduce noise, but that hasn’t happened.

Yours etc

Tony Newbery

Llanbedr.