SO once again the powers that be within the district council, in conjunction with the planning department, having decided that maybe it's best to keep Malvern in a 19th Century limbo, have closed ranks and dictated what we are going to have and ignoring what we may want.

Here we are in a socially dead midlands town, run by a group of demi-gods who believe that it is better to have a ghost town rather than a modern canopy! What on earth are the people of Malvern doing, sitting back and allowing this sort of ridiculous situation to continue unabated! It really is time that these so-called experts are reminded that they work for us and are not above reproach.

In Malvern we have a situation which is inexcusable, to say the least. The town is slowly decaying, due to the influence of a minority of people who wish to see the area locked in a time warp. When improvements are suggested they are, often as not, dismissed out of hand.

Tintagel, in Cornwall, is a one street town with just two real tourist attractions, the sea and the castle, but there is where the similarity ends.

In Tintagel there is an excellent information centre, plenty of cheap car parking facilities, a busy and diverse shopping area and well planned use of the areas natural and man-made attractions.

Both are areas of natural beauty, and places of social interest, but the differences between the two are disturbingly obvious. The elected representatives in Tintagel are leading the town into a prosperous 21st Century, in a way that is still in keeping with its past, while those representatives in Malvern seem to be bowing to the wishes of a few, and keeping our town firmly locked in the past.

It is time that all of us who wish to see this town prosper demand that something is finally done to stop this decay, which will eventually destroy what could be again, a place to visit and enjoy.

The Victorians had a point of view which seems to have been lost in time as far as Malvern is concerned, You have to speculate to accumulate' Derek Lawrence, Worcester