MADAM, Strawberry fields forever (PHoskins letter, December 20) : 'The natural beauty of the area is being sacrificed by hoops covered in plastic. The development is surely something the local authority can, and should, control.'
Our council does not have powers to control polytunnel structures of a temporary nature, with no concrete footings. These temporary structures last for nine months from December each year.
Tourism, holiday cottages and guesthouses will suffer because who will want a vacation overlooking plastic whilst listening to the noise of river pumps? I am sure the value of my house, with unparalleled views of polythene, will drop. Growers claim they help the local economy, but vast numbers of workers are drawn from Eastern Europe.
There is a great divide between the long-suffering farmer (who has been to hell and back) and the aesthete whose creativity is affected by visual pollution.
Polythene farming is relatively new. Sensible compromise is needed before the problem becomes too bit to control in our Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
PETER SIMKINS, chairman of The Friends of Hoarwithy,
Hoarwithy House,
Hoarwithy.
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