Roy Phillips, of St Joseph's Court, carlton Place, Teignmouth, writes:

With reference to the article headed Morrisons to check in to Broadmeadow, I am astonished and mystified to read that Teignmouth traders are said to have broadly welcomed the proposal.

Assertions that this will stimulate more business in the town centre, or even draw off some of their future customers from Broadmeadow into the town centre, flies in the face of some years of contrary experience of town centres in this country and abroad on my part.

What will happen is that some of the existing town centre trade will be lost to this development. While it will stop some people from shopping in Newton Abbot, it will not bring more people into the town. Our £1.1milliion highway to nowhere already bypasses the town centre and the proposed side is on Teignmouth's boundary.

What should be remembered are the reported comments in the area's daily newspaper from Teignbridge Council's leader and I quote: 'It's about best meeting the council's requirements' and 'There were very many things that the council wanted and that the final bidders have been able to provide.'

Note the lack of reference here to what Teignmouth wants or needs. Also, let us not forget that this is yet another of Teignmouth's assets being sold off.

If, I repeat if, Teignmouth's needs had been given full consideration, then the location of this or some other supermarket could and should have been in Brunswick Street. That area could have been offered a preferential long-term lease on the proviso that part of the contaminated land at Broadmeadow not required for expanding the industrial estate could be made safe and the necessary sports fields plus a possible sports pavilion be reinstated.

But while Teignmouth's town centre would benefit and the people of Teignmouth regain improved sports fields, the pot of gold earmarked for Teignbridge's coffers would not be so large.

If Teignbridge's executive committee had at least one Teignmouth district councillor serving on it, then this alternative and others primary benefiting Teignmouth could have been discussed. However, politics being the order of the day at all levels of local govenment has resulted in Teignmouth, the second largest town in Teignbridge, and Dawlish, the third largest, having no representation on this decision-making body.

While extra employment is always most welcome in the town, I wonder how many of the town's traders will find that they coujld no longer carry on in business? It is Teignmouth's town that needs regeneration. It is the town that needs to gain back the trade lost when Teignbridge stuck us with two Co-ops and it is the town that needs the jobs.

Finally, let us not forget that we will not have a Morrisons in Teignmouth, but a Morrisons on the boundary of Teignmouth and what Teignmouth gets out of this £9.5 million community contribution will largely depend on who gets elected to Teignbridge Council next May.