I ATTENDED the meeting in the town hall last month at which information was given about the inspector's report into the possible development in Berkeley.

I feel strongly that the report should be rejected on the grounds that the proposal to designate Berkeley as a principal settlement is mistaken.

Yes, the town has shops, churches, pubs, a cafe, a Post Office (within a shop), a library (open three days weekly and soon to lose its manager), a primary school, a secondary school (which has recently closed its Sixth Form), a clinic and (small) hospital, car parking (very limited), access to main roads, some open spaces, a recreation ground, some employment opportunities, but all these are barely sufficient for the existing population.

Visitors to the castle and the Jenner Museum find little else of interest. Many people go out of Berkeley for shopping, work, entertainment and, in some cases, schooling.

The number of people in Berkeley has doubled in the last 60 years and this has necessitated a gradual change in the size and usage of the town. To 'dump' a further third in five years is ludicrous and seems to rely heavily, in the report, on possible increase of employment in Sharpness.

If such 'dumping' was done and, the necessary increase in facilities was made, the entire character of the town would be altered. At present it is a small, self-contained unit; don't let it become a sprawling dormitory mass.

So I join with many other residents in urging opposition to this proposed development scheme.

A Barker Church Lane Berkeley