JOHN Clark (Argument over Lugg bypass route is history, Letters, August 13) writes as if the Lugg Meadows are the only wildlife habitat needing protection from road and housing development around Hereford, but there are many other examples, some less well-documented but equally special.

For a start, the whole of the River Wye is also a Special Area of Conser- vation and SSSI. With their headquarters onsite the Wildlife Trust can promote the Lugg Meadows and show off the fritillaries easily, but few realise there are similar floodplain habitats, ancient woodland and wildflower meadows with orchids on the west side of Hereford in Breinton.

However, unlike the Lugg Meadows, this tranquil landscape of the Wye Valley, unchanged over hundreds of years and designated an Area of Great Landscape Beauty by the previous administration, does not already have major roads and pylons crossing it.

On much of the Wye Valley Walk along the river SAC/SSSI through Breinton there is currently no traffic noise, no sight of buildings and no light/air pollution.

This area also deserves maximum protection from development. Most people think of a bypass as a fast route round a town, but there is nothing like that in the council’s Core Strategy.

Instead, the proposed road would have to be single-carriageway funded by fees from building thousands of houses along the way. That would only result in many more cars in Hereford and further congestion.

I thoroughly agree with John Clark that we should “not destroy a thousand-year pedigree of natural and cultural heritage”, but that has to apply to all wildlife habitats and heritage sites that qualify, not just the Lugg Meadows.

DR NICHOLA GEESON Hereford