Madam,

The company concerned, Ellis Developments Company Wales Ltd, claims that the proposal “will make use of a vacant area of land that has become overgrown and untended”.

Overgrown and untended it may be, but it is far from vacant; the site is home to a great variety of bird, insect and plant life and is part of a unique, beautiful and continuous green link from the harbour to the lower slopes of the nearby Pen Dinas hill fort – a designated nature reserve, as is Tan-y-bwlch beach, which is even closer.

Despite this, in their planning application to Ceredigion Council, under Section 14 ‘Biodiversity and Conservation’, Ellis Developments states that there is no “designated site, important habitat or other biodiversity features… on land adjacent to or near the proposed development”. How can they be sure?

We are fortunate to have retained pockets of natural wilderness like this within the town perimeter and building on them will not “sustain and enhance the local character of the area” – another claim made by Ellis Developments.

It is easy to make vague (one might say cynical) claims of this sort; what is the ‘local character’ of Aberystwyth?

Surely one of its most valuable and attractive aspects is the relationship between the town and its surrounding landscape. How will that be sustained and enhanced by the addition of an unneeded building that simply fills a gap because it can?

This is the type of proposal that, if it is approved, will contribute to the homogenisation of Aberystwyth, as the town loses touch with the landscape and becomes – in the words of Ellis Developments - an “urban setting” like any other.

Yours etc,

Jo Dahn, High Street, Aberystwyth.

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