Madam,

I oppose any sculpture on Borth/Ynyslas beach, or any thing permanent not necessitated by safety/conservation. Whether this metal tree is art or not (although an interesting discussion in itself) is not the main issue here.

Putting a very large man-made structure in this relatively uninterrupted natural area which has the quality of wilderness, will alter it substantially. When you place anything in a space, that space is transformed. It would be a negative marker and an intrusion all the more tragic for being unnecessary. The justifications for it (interpretive art, symbolising climate change) do not balance the desecration it will cause on every level – physical, emotional, sensory, environmental.

Comparisons with Anthony Gormley’s Another Place are inappropriate. Gormley chose the semi-industrial beach carefully, backed in part by docks and old steel works, totally in keeping with the 100 poignant iron figures. It is not a beach prized for its natural beauty.

The artist has said all our concerns are answered in his planning application – well clearly not, otherwise the many in opposition would not continue expressing them. Ultimately I share with others the unshakeable belief that the metal tree should not be there in the first place.

It is sad that although the site proposed is an SAC (special area of conservation), an SLA (special landscape area), within the Dyfi Biosphere and part of Pen Llyn a’r Sarnau, these seem not to be protection enough against the proposed metal tree. Additionally the specifications in the Ceredigion Local Development Plan are open to interpretation and opinion, eg one person can claim enhancement of the area and another can claim the opposite.

So we need to protect the area which is unspoiled and unique in the whole of Wales and hope that our responses are heard – that the democratic right of the local voices and all who love and cherish Borth/Ynyslas beach as it is, are heard.

To quote from the Policy DM 17 (Ceredigion Development Plan): “The protection of high quality and highly valued visual, historic, geological and cultural landscapes is important both for its own sake and for the health and social….well-being of individuals and communities.”

Yours etc,

Lynne Dickens, Ynyslas.

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