AS someone who grew up in Salisbury, and is still a regular visitor, I was very concerned to hear about the proposed development on the meadows next to Britford Lane just below Harnham Bridge, for both practical and aesthetic reasons.

All land abutting the River Avon and its tributaries is well known for flooding – I remember too well my parents’ farm beside the Nadder being covered in water for three months in 1963.

These meadows are no exception.

And even if flooding is somehow avoided, the Avon already has an acute problem with nitrate contamination, which the run-off from this development would only make worse.

The meadows are inside a designated Conservation Area, and are also part of the setting of the Cathedral – which should be reason enough for refusal of this proposal. They are also part of the ‘green highway’ formed by the Avon, and thus form an essential corridor for the migration and spreading of wildlife. This now includes Ospreys, Bitterns and Nightjars, all of which live a little way downriver or use it as a migratory corridor.

I realise that more houses have to be built in order to accommodate the rapidly rising population, but even the government has agreed that this should be on brownfield land whenever possible.

There already exists just such a site not far from the city centre. It is well-known that the Churchfields Industrial Estate is due to be redeveloped, but what about the site of the old engine shed next to it?

This has been derelict, and an eyesore, since 1967 when it was shut.

I’m sure the developers would prefer to build on the meadows, because they won’t have to be decontaminated, as the engine shed site probably would. But what is the environment worth?

Surely more than it would cost to use this eminently suitable site.

ANDREW PUCKETT, Taunton